


New Game, New Life

by MulanskiSaviorOfChina69



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Sexual Content, Mild Smut, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:41:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MulanskiSaviorOfChina69/pseuds/MulanskiSaviorOfChina69
Summary: A new game + story of persona 5 royal where the protagonist regains his memories of what happened previously, and this time he plans on changing everything to go his way and save many lives in the process.This is NOT a retelling, events from the story will be altered, and some characters who were previously dead may be alive, and vice versa.
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Comments: 26
Kudos: 92





	1. Rewind

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I only have the original p5 so please dont grill me for getting certain things wrong about p5r, this is also my very first story so any critiscism and/or spelling errors would be appreciated. (I type faster than my brain can think sometimes)
> 
> Yes, I know Jokers glasses are supposed to be fake, but I felt like it would be funnier if I made them real and had Joker be almost blind without them.
> 
> Have fun reading.

Akira Kurusu was on his way back home from Tokyo, after saying goodbye to his friends and girlfriend Sumire Yoshizawa, he looked at his cat and best friend Morgana while on the train. He smiled, turned, and looked out the window of the train, he saw what looked like his rival Goro Akechi but he couldn't see his face, he gasped slightly and then noticed his phone had gotten a call. As soon as he answered it a bright flash of white light flashed through his mind. 

"Trickster your story has not satisfied me... do it over again, this time from the very beginning..." demanded a voice that sounded similar to Yaldabaoth's. 

And in mere minutes Akira was then on a street he felt he had seen before, he was right in front of a crosswalk. Shaken a little by what had just happened Akira took out his phone and checked the date, as he read the date he gasped. "Its like time itself has gone backward by an entire year" then he took a closer look at the date and said. "Wait, wasn't today the day that... I have a bad feeling about this..." 

“Today was brutal, huh?” Kasumi asks, smiling. Her sister Sumire kept her head down and didn't even bother to reply. Kasumi wasn’t even sure if Sumire even heard her. She then stops walking and her smile is now replaced with a look of worry, “Feeling okay?” Kasumi asks.

“It’s not that,” the younger Yoshizawa twin replied, shaking her head. She then continues walking, looking at the ground. “Why am I doing so bad? I keep messing up my routine…” Sumire mumbles to herself. She then stops once Kasumi steps in front of her.

“Your growth spurt’s just changed your eye level. You’ll get used to it,” Kasumi assures. Sumire still looks the same as before. Kasumi then puts her hand up to Sumire’s head, as if she was measuring her height. “Look! You’re as tall as I am now!”

“We practice the same amount…” Sumire said ignoring what her sister stated. “But you are the one who always gets first place… I can’t catch up to you, Kasumi…”

Kasumi bends down, before smiling. “You know why? Because it’s my right as the elder sister,” she brags, as she places her hand on her chest. 

“We’re in the same grade, though,” Sumire points out.

“Aw, don’t be so down,” Kasumi says.“We’ll reach the top of the world together,” Kasumi assures, interrupting Sumire’s thoughts. She looks up at the sky, as well as a sign for the next gymnastics meet that’s coming up.

“You don’t get it,” Sumire points out. “You’ll never understand how I feel.”

“What?” Kasumi asks, confused. To her, it’s the first time Sumire acted like this. She doesn’t know how to react to what seems to be Sumire’s sudden depressive state.

Suddenly, with tears in her eyes Sumire started to run, Sumire's legs seemed to have a mind of their own. While she’s running, she starts having flashbacks of previous memories.

Kasumi… If I were like you, things would be so much better… Sumire thinks to herself.

“Hey, wait up!” Kasumi yells, before running after her. 

Kasumi’s the one who people want… Sumire reminds herself, remembering the times where after gymnastics meets Coach Hiraguchi would congratulate Kasumi on her achievements.

“Look where you’re going! The light’s red! Hey!” Kasumi warns, now breaking into a full-on sprint in an attempt to catch up to Sumire.

The talented one who can reach the top of the world…

Sumire continued sprinting until she bumped into someone right in front of the cross-walk in front of her, he had frizzy black hair and a pair of glasses. The impact made Akira drop his phone and fall backward landing with a loud thud and what sounded like a bonk from his head, As a truck swerved into the other lane and came to a very abrupt stop. 

"Hey is he alright? the driver asked as he looked around." as Sumire looked down at the unconscious man in front of her she gasped and covered her mouth with both of her hands dropping her umbrella as Kasumi caught up and immediately covered her mouth with her free hand as she hesitated to ask. "D-did you bump into him?" 

Sumire burst into tears and crouched down covering her face in her knees while the truck diver called an ambulance.

Akira was laying in bed in the hospital as Sojiro was present demanding answers from the doctor.

"What the hell happened doc?" Sojiro asked with a stern face.

"He seems to have suffered a minor concussion as well as a crack in his spine. He will recover before the school year starts but he won't be waking up for another couple hours." The doctor replied.

"God damn it, kid, I just told you not to put yourself in any danger!" Sojiro yelled while he groaned.

"So how did he get all banged up like this? Sojiro questioned, this time with a lowered tone of voice.

"It seems a young girl bumped into him while he wasn't paying attention and he fell backward, his phone suffered some minor damage as well." The doctor simply said.

"Heh gettin' bested by girls already kid?" Sojiro teased as if he was awake to hear him.

Sojiro left a few seconds later.

A few days later, Akira woke up but couldn't see anything without his glasses, the tried reaching for where he usually put them when he woke up but found nothing but empty space. "Where are my glasses?" He asked frantically feeling around. 

"Oh you're awake!" a familiar voice called out to him, but because he was still dazed from the incident he had no clue what was going on.

"Huh, what happened?" Akira said as he sat up. "The last thing I remember I was standing on the sidewalk and then I wound up here."

"Uhm... I'm sorry..." Sumire said. "I wasn't looking where I was going and bumped into you, causing you to fall and get a concussion..."

"So that's why my head hurts so much." Akira said shaking his head a little bit. "By the way, I can't see without my glasses, do you know where they are? He questioned blushing slightly, scratching the back of his head.

"I think these are yours, the doctor left them over here on the sink counter." Sumire said as she stood up and grabbed them, she then walked back over to where Akira was as she slid them on his face, smiling.

"It's you!" Akira said wide-eyed. "You're-" 

Sumire cut him off. "I'm Sumire Yoshizawa, sorry to disappoint... I'm not my sister Kasumi..."

Akira laughed a bit. "I have no reason to be disappointed Sumi!" he immediately went red-faced as he apologized. "I'm sorry, that kinda slipped out." 

Sumire was redder in her face than her hair. "Wh-Wha-What did you j-just c-call me?

Akira apologized. "Sorry, that's a habit of mine."

Sumire quickly regained her confidence and said. "Well now you know my name but I'm still yet to know yours! What's your name?" Sumire asked with genuine curiosity.

Akira felt hurt on the inside after hearing those words from her own mouth, the girl he loved didn't remember him, he knew that time was reversed somehow, but he was still surprised. Akira must not have noticed the tears flowing down his face because Sumire looked worried and leaned over at him with a tissue, frantically apologizing for her mistake.

"I'm sorry I didn't know that was a touchy subject for you, I'm very sorry!" She said.

Akira snapped out of it and wiped his tears. "It's fine, it was my fault. Anyways my name is Akira Kurusu its nice to meet you.

Sumire thought to herself. "That name feels familiar to me, but I don't know why..."

Akira came to a sudden realization though. "Ah! my phone, I need my smartphone quickly!" He pleaded.

Sumire jumped at the sudden rise in his voice as she sporadically moved throughout the hospital room trying to get his phone. Eventually, she got it and gave it to Akira as he opened it and quickly checked for the meta nav. "Oh thank god the Nav is still here."

"The Nav?" Sumire asked tilting her head in confusion.

Akira tightened his focus and thought to himself. "I can still feel them with me, Arsene, Ishtar, Yoshitsune, Shiki-Ouji, Satanael... I still have access to my personas, but if time really has rewound then that means maybe I can do the tasks of the phantom thieves without having to worry about anyone else getting hurt because of me."

Sumire asked worriedly. "Are you ok Kurusu-San?" 

Akira lost his train of thought after hearing Sumire not address him as "Senpai" or "Akira-Senpai".

"Oh no I'm fine, sorry I zoned out for a second there, didn't mean to worry you." Akira said nervously. "By the way, what's today's exact date?" He asked more calm than before.

"Oh, why its Sunday, April 10th, 20XX why?" Sumire stated nervously.

"Wait its April 10th today, shit I was supposed to go with Sojiro to Shujin in order to meet my teacher and principal." Akira said loudly as Sumire came to a realization.

"Oh you're going to Shujin too?" Sumire asked as she smiled.

"Yeah ill be a second-year, I'm a transfer student." Akira said with confidence.

"Wow, me and my sister are going to be 1st years, I guess that makes you my Senpai!" Sumire said.

Akira smiled as he felt more familiarity from those words. "I guess so."

Sumire smiled as the doctor came back in. "Ah Kurusu you're awake, when you get to feeling you can move on your own you can leave, ill tell Sakura-San.

Sumire smiled one last time as she said. "Well, I guess I better go then, ill see you around school I guess."

Akira quickly thought. "Shit no, I have to make a move if I ever want to talk more to her." he waited for a second as she turned away and he said. "Wait a second!"

"Yes?" Sumire asked confused.

"Can we exchange contact info, I want to get to know you better, you seem like a really nice person, and also if there is ever anything at all you ever want to talk about with me, don't hesitate to ask, I'm always all ears for you." He said trying not to reveal too much information.

"Sure why not sounds like fun!" Sumire said as they exchanged contact info. "I'll see you later then Senpai!"

"Alright bye Sumire-Chan." he said with slight disgust in his mouth.

After she left the room, the doctor smiled and said, "I notified Sakura-San about your stir and he said he'd be here soon."

"Thank you doc." Akira said as he got up to stand. "So what exactly is wrong with me?" He asked.

The doctor laughed and told him he was fine to go to school and not to worry.

"Alright, well thanks, ill head down to the lobby to wait for Sojiro." Akira said.

He headed down to the lobby and waited for Sojiro's arrival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, ill try to consistently post new chapter throughout each week, no guarantees on a consistent schedule.
> 
> Also i didn't do any research to see if similar stories already exist, so im sorry if anything seems similar to something you've posted or seen before, However I did use the Sumire and Kasumi scene from the fic "Royal Rivals: The Quartet" by "ShrugFace" as a guide.


	2. The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira goes to school today, he plans on changing lots of events to go in his favor, so that he can stop Kamoshida asap, he meets a familiar cat, dodges rumors, and decides not to involve his friends from the future yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got bored so I decided to write another chapter, this may happen from time to time as I get inspired quite easily, Akira's gonna be a bit of a smartass throughout this fic btw, don't expect these frequent uploads often as I do surprisingly have a life. Nonetheless, enjoy :)
> 
> Edit: Spelling errors and grammar mistakes.

"The first day of school huh? ill change things up a bit and hopefully this time I don't drag Ryuji into this as I don't want anyone else getting hurt." Akira thought to himself as he walked towards the school, despite him coming from the future he still forgot to bring an umbrella and there he waited at the familiar hangover that he met Ann at the first time around.

Just like last time Ann came to the hangover and the "interaction" went exactly as last time, that is until Kamoshida pulled up offering a ride.  
"Hey need a ride?" Kamoshida asked looking at Ann. "Maybe ill accept his offer this time, I know how to use the nav, so ill probably wait until after school." Akira thought to himself. "You need one too?" Kamoshida asked in his "friendly" tone. "I'll take you up on that offer thanks," Akira replied. "Mind if I sit in the back? He asked. "Go ahead, I don't mind." Kamoshida said as Akira opened the door and sat his belongings inside.

The ride was rather quiet as no one really spoke until Kamoshida turned his radio on and the news played once again talking about the subway accident. "Oh god, that's the 3rd time this week I've heard about this accident, isn't there anything else at all, like the election candidates or even the Shujin Volleyball team?" Kamoshida said. Ren sat in the back of the car quietly thinking to himself. "Man Akechi even had his Metaverse travels way back here? I don't think I'm strong enough to defeat him on my own so I should probably get Morgana so I have at least some help, plus I wouldn't want him to die from Kamoshida's palace collapsing."

"Hey, kid what's your name? Haven't seen you around here before." Kamoshida asked in a slightly stern voice. "Oh-uh, Akira Kurusu sir." Akira said in a half-faked nervous voice. "Oh, you're that new transfer student in Kawakami's class right? You're in the same class as Takamaki-san. You interested in joining the volleyball team?" Kamoshida asked, Akira knew what he was trying to do and he respectfully declined his offer. "Uhm no thanks I'm more worried about being able to keep up with my academics over sports right now, I do keep myself in shape though, I love running, but I heard that the track team got shut down here at Shujin." Kamoshida sighed. "Well that's too bad I guess, but it can't be helped, the star runner of the track team lost control of his emotions and punched the coach." He said. Akira knew what he meant because he'd been told about it, he kept his mouth shut though as he didn't want to start any trouble.

No more conversation ensued as they got to school, Akira and Ann thanked kamoshida for the ride as Akira "followed" Ann and made split off as he went to the faculty office to meet Kawakami. "The classrooms right here you know!" Ann said in a more confident tone that was the complete opposite of what she expressed in the car. "Oh I know, but I was told to meet with Kawakami in the faculty office, do you know where that is?" Akira fake questioned, not wanting to arouse any suspicion. "Down the hall, take a left and it'll be one of the rooms on your left" Ann said. "Ok thanks ill see you in class then I guess." Akira replied. 

He made his way there to meet with his teacher and she went over the basics with him and on his way there Kawakami spoke to him. "Please, don't say anything unnecessary." Akira nodded and he went into the room with her, he introduced himself to the class and didn't say anything other than his name. "I'm Akira Kurusu." he said and then sat into his seat, without realizing that Kawakami hadn't told him where to sit yet.

"Uh Kurusu, I haven't told you where to sit yet, but that seats fine I guess." Kawakami said with concern. Akira came to the realization and apologized. "Ahh sorry, this just felt natural being an open seat in the classroom." Kawakami looked at him funny but gave up and said. "Alright, that's your seat from now on, anyways onto the lesson." Kawakami taught her lesson, Akira was grateful as the first time around he missed it due to being with Ryuji on the first day. Akira was very surprised that rumors about him hadn't circulated, he wonders if Kamoshida started the rumors already or if it was today that it was leaked.

It was lunchtime as Akira sat down and started eating in the usual Courtyard spot as he noticed a familiar yellow-haired ape walking towards him. "Who are you? You look like trouble, I saw you gettin' into Kamoshidas car today, I'm gonna warn you, stay away from that pervy teacher, he thinks he's the-" Akira cut him off before he had a chance to finish that line. "I'm well aware, but hold on a moment." he quickly checked his phone, and just as he suspected the nav was filling out information that Ryuji had said. He closed the app after clearing out the information and turned his phone off completely. "Now then continue." Akira said taking a sip of his Dr. Salt Neo. "He thinks he's the king of the castle and he pisses me off, anyways your a transfer right, I don't think your one of the Yoshizawa twins so what's your name?" Ryuji said with an intimidating voice to most people, but Akira was used to it and unfazed, to Ryuji's slight surprise. "Akira Kurusu, your Ryuji Sakamoto, former track star correct?" Akira answered with a straight face, he at least wanted to be friends with Ryuji.

Ryuji gasped at how much information the transfer knew. "H-How did you know about that- wait I get it, Kamoshida opened his damn mouth to you so you would stay away from me, that bastard..." He said while clenching his fists. "You really think I believe the bullshit he says?" Akira said with a smirk. "Anyways I'm busy eating right now, so unless you'd care to join me I'd appreciate it if you'd take your leave." Akira said before taking a bite into his bread. "Fine but don't take what I had to say into consideration if you want a shot at survivin' here." Ryuji warned as he took his leave in his usual hunchbacked walk he always did.

Akira finished his lunch and returned to class, it was the same as he was always used to and he just casually sat there waiting for it to end as he knew everything already.

After school, he went into the usual alleyway as he waited for most people to leave as he took out his phone and booted it up. He noticed he'd gotten a text from Sumire asking him how his head was and if his day had been good. he responded with a "thumbs up emoji" and said,

Akira: "Thanks for worrying about me, I'm fine." 

Akira: "I'm going to boot my phone off for a while though due to a battery issue it seems to have suffered from the incident."

Sumire: "Ok, well I'll try to find you at lunch tomorrow so we can eat together. Goodbye!"

Akira: "Sounds like a plan, ttyl."

Akira then booted up the metanav and entered Kamoshidas keywords, he wanted to get the heist done before 4/15 as that was when bad things happened to Shiho which he didn't want to happen. Just as he suspected he got a hit and the nav said, "Candidate found, beginning navigation." and after some time he found himself right outside of Kamoshida castle.

As he walked closer his phantom thief attire sprung on him and he climbed in through the secret entrance and caused a slight racket pushing the grate down. he dashed across the main room and over to the basement as he wanted to save Morgana, he was easily able to dispose of the incredibly weak shadows with Arsene and Yoshitsune as he felt Satanael would cause too much racket.

He made his way down to where Morgana was being held and as he called out Morgana's name he heard a meowing sound that sounded like pain. "Yaaah let go of me, my tail isn't some toy." Morgana cried out as his tail was gripped by Kamoshida's shadow. "Oh dear, it seems the kitty has quite the mouth on him, hold for me so I can pluck his whiskers," Kamoshida ordered his knights and guard captains. "I AM NOT A CAT, I AM MORGANA," he yelled at the king in defiance. "Well, princess what should I do with this naughty cat, if you want I could keep him alive as a gift for you." King Kamoshida said cusping Cognitive Anns chin as she said in a sassy tone. "Oh for reals! King Kamoshida you're too good to me!" Akira stood hiding on the corner edge, he wasn't afraid of not being able to beat them, but he didn't want to kill kamoshidas shadow in case he went overboard. "Oh wait I have an Idea, Arsene dormina." he said as Arsene used said move putting king kamoshida to sleep, as he did this the guards noticed and dropped Morgana.

They then moved over to where Akira was and attempted to fight him, only to be defeated by there own attacks due to Akira using tetrakarn. With a Joker grin, Akira picked up Morgana who was more shocked than anything, and locked kamoshidas shadow in the cell. He dropped Morgana and Morgana immediately started asking questions. "First off, who the hell are you? second of all what the heck did you just do? you are definitely no amateur."

"Just call me Joker for now, ill tell you my real name once we get out of here and ill explain everything else," Akira said as he switched to Ishtar and used a quick salvation on Morgana, quickly patching up all the damage he'd taken.

"Sounds good, let's get out of here, I'm still confused as to what just happened, so ill gladly follow you, you look like you know what you're doing," Morgana said confused as he followed Joker's lead.

They managed to escape the castle but they didn't leave the metaverse, Joker then stopped and then turned to Morgana who was hoping for answers. "Its a bit of a long story, you got the time?" Joker asked. "Sure, I have all the time in the world." Morgana said with his usual cocky laugh he always did.

"Alright then." Joker said as he sighed and stuffed his hands in his pocket and turned to face Morgana. "So first things first, my real name is Akira Kurusu. Second, I seem to have come from the future if you will believe it, in that future you and I joined forces with loads of others as phantom thieves of hearts, who wanted to change the hearts of wicked evildoers by stealing the treasure that lies inside the palaces of people with distorted hearts. You were our guide through most of it, having the most experience of it, and you decided to have us help you in return for you helping us, we would help you get your memories back by going to the depths of mementos, we did end up getting your memories back in there so that's something you should be happy about. After we got your memories back though a man with both a persona and a palace appeared and he sought to create a new reality where everyone can be happy, however, we refused to accept a false reality and we changed his heart successfully. After those events took place we settled down for a while and I ended up going on a train ride home and with you coming with me, the next thing I knew I got a call on my phone and after that, I seemed to have time-traveled back here. That's me cutting out the excess of the story, I came to save you for 2 reasons, one, this time I plan on doing these actions without getting my comrades hurt in the process, and 2. I didn't want you to die after the collapse of kamoshidas palace. I forgot to mention that I have the unnatural ability to wield multiple personas, and it seems my personas have stayed with me throughout this weird time travel journey." Morgana stood there his eyes wider than dinner plates, in complete disbelief at what he had just been told.

"Let me get this straight, you know everything about me and what's going to happen from here on out because you have come from the future?" Morgana said hoping to get the story straight.

"That is accurate, I know everything about you just about, and I also know the process we take in order to change someone's heart. So I'm going to ask you now. Will you help me, I can do lots on my own, but I need the help of someone I can trust, but I don't want to put anyone in danger if at all possible." Akira questioned with the hopeful look in his eyes.

"You know what, it's better to stick with someone who knows what's up than to go wandering around on my own, and your personas are incredibly powerful, Ill definitely stick with you Akira." Morgana replied in his cocky attitude as usual.

Akira gave off a Joker grin. "Awesome, that's the Mona I remember, that's your codename by the way." He said.

"I like it, you have good taste Joker." Mona said.

"So Mona, you wanna steal that bastard Kamoshidas heart?" Joker asked hoping for a positive response.

Morgana replied with a cocky and serious look on him. "Are you kidding, what do you think I came here to do?" he said as they laughed and walked towards the castle again.

"Alright then, its showtime!" Joker said sprinting towards the secret entrance he made.

-End chapter 2 "The First day"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo Boy, after about an hour and a half I have this chapter finished, I hope you all enjoyed as I had fun writing it, this fic idea came to me just as I finished my 5th playthrough of persona 5 and finished watching a Royal playthrough. I hope I do a good job of representing the characters well.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. :) Look forward to the next chapter soon.


	3. Triumph Over The Lustful King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker and Mona infiltrate Kamoshida's palace and send the calling card they day after, and Akira brings Morgana home hoping Sojiro will let him like last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mwehehehe back with another chapter, as always criticism is appreciated as long as your not a douche about it, I spent longer on this chapter so I could make it longer as the others were shorter than I had originally hoped to be, nonetheless hope you enjoy.

Akira and Morgana ran towards the castle, but right before entering Akira stopped.

"Almost forgot, take this Mona." He said before throwing Morgana an accessory of some kind.

"What's this Joker?" Mona questioned not knowing what it is.

"It's an SP Adhesive, it will help your persona keep its power up for longer, I use one all the time, I'd also like to let you know, I won't be doing all of the fighting, that would just be idiotic of me because you wouldn't have a chance to grow at all." Joker said as he looked at Mona with a serious expression.

That's fair, I wouldn't enjoy just watching, alright let's get going. Mona said as they began their infiltration.

It went pretty well without much of an issue until they came across an area that looked like a church, as they went to it Joker suddenly whispered to Mona.

"Hey be careful this area is dangerous, my comrades from the future were almost slaughtered by a fiend in this very room, if memory serves me correctly it's weak to electric attacks, so ill step in, but you be careful." Joker warned.

"Alright, ill stay safe while you do your thing then." Mona said clearly worried.

"Alright, here we go." Joker said as he walked to the aisle where the pews were.

"Halt, intruders you shall go no further." The guard captain said as he appeared out of thin air.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, hurry up and let's get this over with." Joker said with a sigh and afterward a smirk on his face.

"I will defeat you for King Kamoshidas sake." The Archangel said as it had now transformed and was about to strike Joker.

"Arsene, Ziodyne!" Joker yelled as Arsene fulfilled his command.

Within almost an instant the fiend vanished in a cloud of thick black dust as Joker smirked.

"Alright let's get going before more show up." Mona said scurrying to the side of the room.

"Roger that." Joker said following Mona.

"We can climb up here to reach the next floor." Joker said as he climbed up the wooden ramp and scurried across the rafters in a crouching state, waiting for Mona to follow.

They continued their way through the palace until they reached the roof when an announcement was made by "The King".

"All guards be aware we have some filthy intruders running around tighten security as much as possible." The King ordered.

"Well shit this is bad, how will we get up there now?" He said pointing at the roof, he knew what Mona's answer would be.

"I've been working on a special gadget you see, I made it for personal use but it doesn't fit my small paws, so here you can have it." Mona said as he strapped the grappling hook to Joker's left hand.

"Thanks, hold on tight kitty, he teased." He said after aiming the grappling hook at the railing on the side of the castle, and it pulled them up to it and the scurried along it and climbed up the side, reaching the tall tower where the treasure was located.

"I'll bet if I use this grappling hook correctly we could skip a certain bridge of death that caused us some annoyance." Joker said aiming his left hand at a flag on the side of the castle. Almost immediately he zoomed up to it and took Mona with him.

"That's quite some wit you have Joker." Mona complimented.

Joker then crawled across the side of the tower and broke the glass of a window which led to the side areas of the throne room. he felt that it would cause enough racket to draw any guards or Kamoshida who had probably escaped from the jail cell by now, and Akira was right in that assumption as he made his way to the other side of the throne room and broke another window causing the guards to go to the other side where he broke it at. Quickly Joker and Mona slipped inside the throne room through the other window and made their way down back into the hall towards the safe room that Joker knew of and they slipped in and took a slight break.

"The treasure just up ahead, I'd say we've done a pretty good job, right Mona?" Joker asked feeling confident.

Mona smirked and said. "Yep you really do know what you're doing here, I can't believe that you actually came from the future, and yet here you are."

"Thanks. Alright, I'd say I'm done with my stretching so let's finish this out and secure our route to the treasure." Joker said feeling hopeful.

"Alright let's do this." Mona agreed.

As they left the saferoom they were confronted by the other guard captain that Joker had almost forgotten about.

"Oh hey, its dick head." Joker said as Mona cracked up a little bit.

"Are you sure that's not Kamoshida you're referring to?" Mona joked.

"Nah dick heads too good for him." Joker said as the guard captain transformed into the penis monster.

"So you defeated the other captains eh? I won't go down so easily!" The monster said as Joker quickly put it to sleep using Dormina.

"Arsene dormina, then finish it with brave blade." Joker shouted quickly putting it to rest.

"Nice job as always Joker, let's go." Mona said as Joker followed.

They climbed their way back up to the Throne room and snuck behind all the guards and Kamoshida who actually made it out of his cell but rather angry.

"Why haven't you useless guards caught those intruders yet? King Kamoshida demanded.

"We're sorry they're just so strong and they've defeated all the captains." One of the soldiers said worriedly.

"What they've defeated the captains? That's no excuse! You should have captured them anyway, who would send their captain to be the only one to fight?" Kamoshida yelled at the guards.

"Quick while they're distracted." Mona said.

"Right." Joker Agreed.

They got into the treasure room and after securing the route they left the palace and headed home.

"By the way Morgana you'll be staying with me, I'm sure boss won't mind, he didn't last time." Akira said to Morgana who was inside Akira's bag as usual. 

"Alright then that sounds good to me, also its quite comfy in here, I take it this is what you used to carry me in "last time"?" Morgana asked.

Joker simply nodded, and he made his way back to Yongen-Jaya where he went to Leblanc and looked at Sojiro who was genuinely surprised.

"Heh, you know I thought I was gonna get a call from your teachers saying you ditched, but you actually went. Maybe you're not such a bad kid after all. Still though, why were you out so late? It unusual for you to be out so late you know." Sojiro questioned in a skeptical manner.

"Ahh sorry I was looking around everywhere and was trying to get used to the area, I also happened to find a cat that followed me here. He seems to have snuck in my bag and won't leave, can I keep him?" Akira asked looking at Sojiro with hopefulness in his eyes.

"This is a restaurant, so animals are usually a No-go, but I guess having a pet will keep you on good behavior, so sure but you'll meet my conditions. First, I'm not taking care of it, that's all on you, second don't let it downstairs while customers are here, third you will be helping me around the shop as a fee." Sojiro said with a smirk at the end.

"Sounds good to me, want some coffee?" Akira said in a friendly tone as he smiled at Sojiro.

"Not right now I gotta get back home, you close up shop, Ill teach you how to make coffee and curry later, sound good?" Sojiro said with his hand on his hip like how Akira was used to.

"I'll take you up on that offer." Akira said laughing a little.

He then went upstairs and laid his bag on his bed with Morgana in it.

"Ahhh it feels so good to stretch my legs after- wait, what is this place?" Morgana asked curiously.

"It's my room." Akira said hoping Sojiro wouldn't hear him.

"Interesting, this place is big but cluttered." Morgana stated.

"It just had to keep calling out in that cute little voice- have you decided on a name yet?" Sojiro said as he came up the stairs with some leftover fish for Morgana.

"As a matter of fact, yes I have, he seems to respond when I call him Morgana." Akira said with a straight face.

"Morgana?! isn't he a boy, why does he like a girlish name?!" Sojiro chuckled at this fact.

"Beats me, he just happened to respond to it after I called him that a few times." Akira said with a lower tone of voice and a slight look of confusion.

"Alright, just keep the noise down and get some sleep." Sojiro said as he went to leave.

Morgana was stuffing his face in tuna as Akira turned on his phone to see he had a message from Sumire.

Sumire: "Hey Senpai, I know you said your phone would be off but I needed to ask you something" Sumire: "Actually no it would probably be a better idea if I waited until tomorrow at lunch."

Akira: "Well alright, but if somethings bothering you don't hesitate to tell me, I hope you are doing well."

That was the end of the conversation as Sumire didn't respond

"I wonder what she has to say, it sounded important." Akira wondered.

"Hey, Akira when are we going to send the calling card, we secured the treasure route so I assume you want to send it soon right?" Morgana questioned having finished his fish.

"Good question, let's see, I want to send it either tomorrow or the day after, we must act before the 15th or something terrible will happen to a student at the school, speaking of which are you coming with me?. Akira said looking at Morgana.

"I don't see why not, I have to make sure you don't get into trouble anyway." Morgana answered.

"Alright then, well I'm gonna take your dish down to the kitchen and then head to sleep." Akira replied doing said action.

The next day class was pretty uneventful, Akira had already learned this stuff so there wasn't any reason to pay attention, and when the teacher tried to get him to pay attention by throwing a piece of chalk he gracefully dodged it by tilting his head.

Woah! Did you see that he dodged Uchimaru's throw? What is he some sort of ninja? One student said.

"Close but I'm a phantom thief." Akira thought in his head with his Joker grin.

"Fine whatever, back to class." Mr. Uchimaru said before turning his back to start teaching again.

It then came lunchtime and Akira went to his usual spot in the courtyard, he sent Sumire a text telling her he would be in the courtyard if she wanted to meet.

Akira: "Hey, Im in the courtyard if you wanted to eat lunch together."

Sumire: "Sure, I was just in a meeting with Mr. Kamoshida, I'm headed your way."

Akira tensed up at this hoping what he thought had happened wasn't so.

When Sumire arrived she saw him and immediately ran over to him and sat down right next to him.

"Hey there you are, I was afraid you were going to ditch me." Akira said with a smile.

"Sorry Senpai I just had a meeting with Mr. Kamoshida." Sumire replied.

"That's fine, it can't be helped can it? anyways, you said you had something you needed to tell me?" Akira asked with a worried face.

"Yes..." Sumire's tone of voice lowered.

"What's up? you can tell me anything, Im all ears." Akira said with a serious look on his face.

"Its... my sister... Kasumi..." She said looking down at her legs. "I feel like I can't catch up to her no matter what I do."

Akira's eyes widened having felt awful. "I'm sorry to hear that." Akira said.

"It's fine, I just needed someone to talk to because Kasumi's been busy helping Mr. Kamoshida, " Sumire said.

"I have an idea of what you can do." Akira said with a smirk.

"Wait you do? Tell me I need to know!" Sumire said enthusiastically.

"First things first, if you truly want to keep up with Kasumi you need to make sure you have your own style, don't copy Kasumi, you must figure your own training regimens, exercises, eating habits, and the like, im not saying to completely ignore her, and using what she does as inspiration is fine too, but finding something you strive to do in your own way instead of someone else's is, in my opinion, the best way to go about it." Akira said hoping Sumire would listen.

"Are you sure? I don't know if I can do those things, I've always relied on Kasumi for those things." Sumire said in a sad voice.

"Then that's another problem you will have to overcome, if you rely on Kasumi for your success and you want to be able to keep up with or surpass Kasumi then you should stop relying on her." Akira told her encouragingly.

"I'll let you in on a little secret Sumire, but you must promise you won't talk about it in front of your sister or family." Akira said looking for an answer.

After some thinking, Sumire came up with her answer. "I promise senpai, what's your secret?!" She asked.

"If you ever want to beat someone at something or just improve in general, instead of only settling for your goal, you should instead only settle for any kind of improvement. In other words: make sure your next practice is always better than the last and make sure it's never worse." Akira revealed bringing a light into Sumire's eyes under her glasses.

"Thanks, senpai, Im sorry I didn't have anyone else to talk to so I kind of just unloaded all of this on you, ill take your advice into consideration." Sumire said in her usual apologetic tone she always had.

"You're welcome. Remember what I told you at the hospital a few days ago? If you ever need to talk to me about anything at all, Im always open ears for you. Think of me as a resource, I've dealt with cases like these before, don't hesitate to tell me if anything is bothering you, I'm sure I can help." Akira comforted hoping he could see Sumire's bright smile once more.

Just as he predicted she smiled, it brought joy to Akira.

"Touching, Akira." Morgana said, with a smirk.

"Did I just hear a meow, is a cat nearby?" Sumire asked looking at the movement of Akiras bag.

"I didn't hear anything." Akira lied.

"Huh, must have been my imagination." Sumire said as she took a bite out of her large lunch which she hadn't even touched.

"Hey, new guy." Called Ryuji making his way towards Akira and Sumire.

"What do you want?" Akira said in an annoyed tone.

"I just thought I'd let you know that if you keep sitting in my usual lunch area you gonna have to be my friend." Ryuji said sitting next to him and putting a hand on his shoulder in his usual friendly smile.

"Whatever you say." Akira said taking a sip of his carton of juice.

"Anyways, I heard you got a criminal record, its gonna be a huge talk of the school if it gets out, few people know about it and I shut them up before they had the chance to say anything." Ryuji said.

Akira just sat there sipping his juice box, as Sumire came to a sudden realization that she was talking to a criminal, she then scooted away a little afraid of what Akira might do.

"Welp it's not like I expected to keep it secret here, I'm more surprised I went this long without getting found out." Akira said with a sigh.

"You know I could use this information to blackmail you ya know, I did just say it out loud in front of a random student after all." Ryuji said in an intimidating voice Akira was all too familiar with.

"But you won't, that's the thing, you won't blackmail me." Akira said with confidence.

"Oh yeah, what makes you so sure?" Ryuji asked even more threatening.

"Because that's not the type of guy you are, you know that if you do that you'll be no better than Kamoshida." Akira said with even more confidence.

"Well you got me there, I'd hate to be as bad as that douche. I hope you take my advice and stay away from him. Man, I wish I could get back at that bastard."

"Uhm sorry to interrupt but isn't it time to go back to class?" Sumire said.

"Oh yeah you're right, see you around Sumire, Ryuji." Akira said picking up his bag with Morgana in it.

"Careful with me Akira." Morgana said poking his head out of the bag.

"Stay in the bag dammit." Akira whispered at Morgana.

The rest of the day finished as normal and Akira went immediately to work on the calling cards. he managed to have a copy of a blank calling card from his previous timeline.

"Alright I have a blank calling card but I need to make a few more so I can really get the message across." Akira said while printing a few copies at the library while no one was looking.

"Alright that should be good, hopefully, these have a strong enough effect, ill just put them up and hide in the bathroom until school starts." Akira said as he went home for the day satisfied."

Early the next morning students gathered at the bulletin board to see it covered in red cards. Ann and Ryuji walked up and read it out loud.

"Sir Suguru Kamoshida the utter fiend of lust, you push your twisted lustful desires on your students who can't fight back leaving them injured and forcing them not to say anything, we have decided that we will make you confess ALL of your crimes with your own mouth, this will be done today. -The Phantom Thieves of Hearts." They said.

Just then Kamoshida walked up to the board and read it.

"WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS? WAS IT YOU? OR YOU?" He asked in rage and confusion.

Akira walked up to the board pretending to read it as Kamoshida extended his arm to grab his.

"WAS IT YOU THREE?" Kamoshida said talking to Ann, Ryuji, and Akira while holding Akira's arm.

"No it wasn't us, I was coming here to find out what the commotion was." Ann and Ryuji said.

"It's the same for me, I was just curious, and you're hurting my arm!" Akira said in a fake scared tone.

"Fine, I'll find whoever did this." Kamoshida said as he let go of Akira's hand as he took a few steps back.

Just then the world faded to black and Akira could see his shadow, "Come, steal it if you can." It said as the world faded back into view.

The rest of the school day everyone started talking about the calling card posted on the bulletin board in the hall, Akira had his Joker grin on all day. The class had ended and it was after school, Akira took Morgana into the alleyway and got ready, he checked to make sure no one was there and his phone said "Beginning Navigation" and just like that Joker and Mona were in front of Kamoshida's palace.

"It's Showtime!" Joker said as Mona quickly followed suit and went with him.

They made their way to the top of the castle where the treasure was and he grabbed the large crown and turned it upside down carrying it on its tip.

"Goodness your strength Joker!" Mona said bewildered by the fact that Joker was just holding the massive crown with one hand.

As he carried it outside to the throne room he heard a voice.

"Go-go let's go, Ka-mo-shida!!" it said as a volleyball flew at the crown which Joker tossed up into the air and caught the crown with one hand and the ball with his other hand.

"You call that a spike, that was kind of pathetic." Joker mocked as Kamoshida got angry.

"Give me that back, its mine I won't let anyone have it." Kamoshida said as his voice got more distorted.

Kamoshida then turned into an octopus-like monster with a huge tongue with a goblet full of women in it and a wine glass with cognitive ann in it.

Joker immediately began charging his energy as he told Mona to stay back and let him handle it. Mona did as he was told and ran over to take cover.

Joker then unleashed his stored energy.

'Yoshitsune, Hassou Tobi!" he said as Yoshitsune slice through everything 8 times in a row leaving the cup destroyed and Kamoshidas shadow defeated without even giving him a chance to attack.

"I've been saving that one for when we faced him." Joker said signaling Mona could come out now.

The crown shrunk into an easier to carry size as Joker gave it to Mona who was fawning over its shininess.

"Kamoshida you bastard, go back to your own self and regret your actions for the rest of your life, and apologize to everyone." Joker said to Kamoshida who obeyed and disappeared in a bright white light.

Joker looked over to mona who was hugging the crown. 

"Come one you stupid cat!" He said trying to get Mona's attention, it worked.

"Alright, I'm coming." he said following Jokers lead throughout the castle.

They managed to escape unscathed and they left the palace feeling successful in their victory over Kamoshida until they returned to the real world where Ryuji just walked through the alleyway and glimpsed at Akiras return.

"What the hell?" Ryuji said as Akira turned around to face Ryuji who was dumbfounded that he saw someone appear out of thin air.

-End Chapter 3 "Triumph Over the Lustful King"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, this chapter took me longer to write, sorry but im leaving it on a cliffhanger. Im not too fond of making action scenes but I hope I did a good job here, sorry if I left something out but next time it will be an entirely "Akira's friends" chapter with similar length to this chapter, I'll try to get it out next week! thx for reading. :)


	4. Friends and Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira tries to find a way to get out of his situation with Ryuji, while also dealing with his other friends getting involved, and a special character finally makes an appearance. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, after writing the last chapter I took a few days to figure out how to go from where it left off, especially with that cliffhanger and I have to say its been extremely tedious but I think I've finally decided on what exactly I'm going to be doing with this fic, I hope everyone enjoys as its going to be a helluva ride.

Ryuji stared at Akira wide-eyed as the man appeared in front of his eyes.

After some heavy but quick thinking, Akira broke the silence.

"Sorry about that Ryuji, you kinda just witnessed the end of one of the magic tricks I've been practicing, anyways im hungry, wanna grab some ramen? Akira said visibly sweating hoping that his magician act will work.

"Uhh, sure. WAIT RAMEN, HOW DID YOU KNOW I LIKE RAMEN BRO!" Ryuji asked ecstatically running over wrapping his arm around Akria with a mile-wide grin on his face.

"I didn't, I was just making a guess, haha." Akira said as he silently thanked the gods for letting him get away with that slip-up.

"Whatever as long as your payin'!" Ryuji exclaimed practically marching towards the train station with Akira in tow.

Akira went with Ryuji to get some ramen at the shop in Ogi-Kubo and as they ordered Ryuji asked Akira the inevitable question.

"So, I heard you got arrested for assault, what's the story?" he said as he slurped noodles.

"Simply put, it was a bunch of false charges that got put on me because I tried to save a woman who was being sexually assaulted, at the time I didn't know that the guy was a drunk, corrupt politician who could get away with rigging the court system without getting his name involved, and to make the situation worse he blackmailed the woman I tried saving into giving a false testimony about me running up and tackling the man." Akira said as he left his chopsticks in the bowl and looked down at it.

"Damn, I hate shitty adults like that, just hearin' your story pisses me off!" Ryuji said slamming his fist onto the counter.

"So did you ever get the guy's name?" Ryuji asked more calmly.

"Even if I did giving his name out in public would be a death sentence." Akira said.

"Aww man that sucks, anyways I wanted to talk to you about something else." Ryuji said with a serious tone.

"What's up?' Akira said.

"What do you think about those phantom thieves of hearts guys, they sounded like they were gonna make Kamoshida confess or something." Ryuji asked.

"I don't know about that right now, we haven't seen much about them, and they almost got my arm broken by that douche Kamoshida." Akira said almost breaking his chopsticks.

"Interesting, im definitely gonna keep my eye on them though, they might be suspicious," Ryuji said leaning back in his chair.

"Oh shit my mom texted me, I gotta go, see ya later." He said as he quickly left, and an angry employee glared at Akira.

"Just put that on my tab please," Akira said as he paid for his and Ryuji's ramen and left a nice tip to the employee.

Akira went home and played out the rest of the deadline like normal, this time however he had changed things that went wrong the first time around, Kasumi is still alive, Maruki might not come to the school, Ryuji and Ann aren't his teammates now, Shiho didn't try to commit suicide, and he wasn't threatened to be expelled this time and Kamoshida got away with less bullshit. 

Then came May 2nd, the day Akira was anticipating the most and unsurprisingly nothing was different, Kamoshida confessed to all his crimes that he had done, and turned himself into the police, everyone was safe and Akira was happy, but he knew his journey wouldn't be over just yet, he would continue the phantom thieves operations with just him and Morgana for now, but he knew exactly what he must do if he wanted to continue this business but he wanted to think on in more before bringing it to his and Morgana's attention.

When Akira returned home he saw Sae pressing Sojiro on something.

"I told you already I don't know a damn thing about Wakaba's research, it has nothing to do with me." He told the woman as she sat her coffee back on her plate.

"We have ways of making you talk you know." She replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sojiro questioned carefully.

"Please if cognitive psience in any way can be used as evidence to find out the reasoning behind the mental shutdown incidents I need to know." She said very sternly as they both looked at Akira who was standing in the doorway.

"You're Sae Nijiima correct?" Akira asked.

"Whatsit to you kid?" She shouted as she sipped her coffee.

"You're interested in cognitive psience yes? Will you talk to me about it and leave Boss alone, he doesn't know anything about it as he said." Akira asked practically begging her to quit pressing Sojiro.

"Fine, but if you aren't of any use then I'm going back to questioning him." She stated as she sat at one of the booths and ushered him to sit across from him, and Akira did so.

"Alright let me first ask you. How much do you know about Cognitive Psience?" Akira asked politely.

"Not much at all, just that it might be useful in finding out the secret about the mental shutdown incidents." Sae replied eagerly waiting for is a response.

"I see, well then I guess ill have to start from the basics." He said as he went on to explain about palaces and a persons shadow.

"See, the human mind is full of desires, and sometimes those desires can become distorted through various means, but these distortions are called palaces, and they take place inside the person's heart. That person has a version of themselves inside of their own palace, these are known as shadows, they are the distorted forms of the palace rulers real-life selves. and as to why these may relate to the mental shutdown incidents, put simply, if you remove the core of a person's palace, you essentially remove those distorted desires and cause them to lose the distorted desires they once had, However, while anything done to the palace will not affect the person, anything done to the shadow will affect them drastically. If the shadow is killed they will suffer a "mental shutdown" as you state. If their shadow somehow goes berserk and can't think straight they will have something like a psychotic breakdown where all of their desires will start rushing through them and they will try to act on those desires." Akira preached as he smiled as if he was the smartest person in the world.

"I see, so that's it? Palaces, Shadows? You seem to know what you're talking about so I guess I'll believe it for now." Sae said.

"Oh, I was talking hypothetically, I mean who would believe such a thing or even a world like that would exist?" Akira said.

Sojiro listened carefully as he listened to the kid who was a criminal talk to a Prosecutor so easily, while he wiped off the counter of spilled rice and coffee.

"Well thank you for your time, but I must be going, I may come back some other time to speak with you again or for just a drink, sorry for the disturbance Sakura-san." Sae said as she bowed and took her leave, and Akira sighed with relief as she left.

"You didn't have to do that kid." Sojiro said as he smiled.

"Well it was the least I could do, worst things come to worse she tries to get you arrested, plus I actually happened to study cognitive psience a fair bit before coming over here." Akira said to Sojiro.

Back at Sojiro's house there Futaba was listening to the recording she had of Akira babbling about cognitive psience, the same subject her mother studied before her death.

"I'll keep an eye on him for the time being, maybe I'll find some useful information on him." Futaba said as she hacked into Akira's phone and placed a bug on it so she could hear everything he said and could even see out of his camera.

Akira went upstairs and sat his stuff down and changed and was about to go to sleep when Morgana poked out of the bag.

"Ahh, freedom at last! So, why did you tell her all about that stuff Akira?" He asked.

Akira smirked and said. "I had to get someone's attention, can't explain too much but I wouldn't be surprised if they caught on to me already." He replied.

"Well I won't poke on it too much, you have your reasons, anyways GO THE HELL TO SLEEP ITS WAY TO LATE AND YOU HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW DUMBASS." Morgana yelled as Akira did what he was told.

Akira woke up, as usual, today and felt the day would be the same as the others, so he went to school like he usually did but as he was walking towards his gate he noticed a man pressuring a girl who Akira thought looked familiar.

"Sorry, but im in a bit of a hurry." The auburn-haired girl said.

"You go to Shujin, right? I heard things have been rough there lately, what with that violent incident. You wanna go talk about it somewhere?" The slimy-old man said.

"Thank you for your concern. However, I really am in a hurry, so if you'd excuse me..." She said bowing in front of the man before turning to walk around him and leave.

The man grabbed her arm as she tried walking around him causing the girl to gasp.

"Come on, there's no need to be shy." The man said with a perverted look in his eye.

"Like I said..." The girl resisted as she tried pulling away from him, only for him to get closer to her face.

"If you're busy I'll put my number in your phone so you can call me later. Sound like a plan?" The man said closing the distance between his and her face.

"Stop it..." she cried weakly looking around hoping someone would help her.

After seeing the man grab her Akira knew he couldn't overlook such a situation and he walked up to the man and girl with a look that could kill, once he reached the man he looked up at him with an ugly face.

"What do you want?" The man said to Akira.

"She's obviously uncomfortable and she's been politely turning you down this whole time and you keep pressuring her, so let her go." Akira said in a serious tone that could scare even the most powerful of people.

"Don't get worked up, I'm just trying to be friendly here." The man said letting her go, causing the girl to hide behind Akira immediately.

"If that's your idea of friendly then I feel bad for your friends." Akira said to the man.

"What the? What are you getting so jumpy about, like you're anything special." The man said before walking away, causing the girl to move out from behind Akira.

"Thank you so much, im sorry for the trouble." The girl said before bowing.

"Don't be, I hate jerks like that, I'm sorry no one else even tried to help you." Akira said while pushing up his glasses to get a better look at the girl.

They simultaneously said. "Wait, you're-" before Akira held up and let her finish.

"Wait you're that guy that Sumire almost killed!" She realized.

"You're Kasumi Yoshizawa correct?" Akira asked while thinking in his mind. "I never got to meet the real Kasumi, I wonder how much different she was."

"Uhm yes that's me, wait how did you know?" She asked looking perplexed.

"Your sister talks about you to me all the time, she's quite jealous of you ya know." Akira said in a friendly voice.

"Oh I see, you must be the Senpai she always talks about at dinner! I hear you two have gotten quite close, you wouldn't happen to be dating would you?" She teased with a smirk.

"Not quite im afraid, she's quite the beauty, but I don't think love is something she needs right now." He said while knowing in his mind how sad he was about this fact.

"Well, I guess you're right, meet me after school and maybe we can talk more-" She was cut-off.

"Kurusu, Akira Kurusu." He said with a smile that could make a crying baby smile.

"Right, Kurusu-senpai." She said.

"Well just meet me in front of the school gate and we could potentially grab a bite to eat, anyways we don't want to be late." He said before walking off.

"Will do." She said as they walked towards their trains.

"Oh wait I forgot about Sumire, I told her I'd wait for her at the trains until she got back from grabbing her gym clothes, I guess ill see you later." She said with a slightly sad tone.

"Just be careful alright." Akira worried as he went on board the train.

"I will Senpai see you later." She said waving goodbye and sitting on the bench.

"That guy was so charming, and kind and brave too, I'll bet he's smart as well, he seemed quite proficient with his hands too, sorry Sumire but I may have a crush forming on a certain black frizzy-haired boy with glasses." She thought in her mind as she let out a chuckle before Sumire finally managed to make it looking exhausted from the running she did.

"Never, forgetting gym clothes again." Sumire panted as she put her hands on her knees and ushered Kasumi to get on the train. Kasumi just laughed and grabbed her hand and pulled her on the train.

While they were on the train Kasumi told Sumire about the encounter she had with Akira.

"He was so handsome too, he was like a knight in shining armor to my damsel in distress." She teased looking at Sumire get visibly red.

"No fair..." Sumire muttered with a pouty face.

"Is that jealousy im hearing Sumire?" Kasumi asked before laughing.

"Wha- No of course not, I have nothing to be jealous of!" Sumire lied continually blushing as she tried to hide her feelings.

"Careful, I just might try and steal him from ya!" Kasumi said, implying it was a joke.

"Very funny Kasumi, you always know how to calm me down, but maybe drop the teasing." Sumire pleaded now that she had calmed down.

"Sure thing!" She said, even though she knew that she would potentially try stealing Akira away from her if she got the chance.

They continued the train ride to school and everything went as normal, Sumire ate lunch with Akira, Ryuji, and sometimes Ann and Shiho as they wanted to get to learn more about Akira which led to him revealing that he was a criminal hoping to drive them away which had the opposite effect causing them to become more interested now they usually came to ask Akira what kind of crimes he's done which he'd reply with the usual, drugs, murder, elephant tusk trafficking, etc. but they could tell he was lying after the one about elephants.

"Ok spill it, you're totally not the criminal type Akira." Ann demanded.

"Well, you're right that im, not the type, but I do still have a record, unfortunately." He replied to her, hoping she wouldn't press more.

"Whatever, so what's on your record frizzy hair." Ann said still curious.

Akira sighed and said. "I have one assault charge, nothing more nothing less." with a look of grief.

"Interesting gimme the deets!" Ann demanded.

"I'd prefer not to talk about it, it's still a blur." Akira said.

"Come on please, a pretty girl is begging you!" Ann said giving him the puppy dog eyes as Ryuji grew slightly jealous of the attention Akira was getting.

"As long as you don't go crazy and blurt it out around school, I'd rather not have rumors startup." Akira sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, hurry up." Ann said as Shiho sat there actually planning on listening, unlike most other times where she'd only pretend because of Ann.

"A few months ago I was walking back home and noticed a drunk man trying to force a woman into his car, I decided to step in and the man ended up getting injured, he then sued me causing me to end up getting kicked out of my house and I got expelled from my old school, and here I am now." He said before tossing his apple core in the nearby trashcan.

"Oh that sounds awful, I'm sorry to hear that."Ann said realizing her mistake in prying into his business.

"It's fine im basically over it." Akira said as Sumire simply sat there and listened as she felt a feeling that the person she was sitting next to was a truly dangerous criminal, but decided that nothing would happen.

"Hearing your story still pisses me off, that guy was a total douche." Ryuji said slamming his fist onto the bench next to him.

After lunch concluded they headed back to class and finished their school day as Akira waited outside the front gate playing a game on his phone when all of a sudden someone pulled away his glasses causing him to not be able to see anything.

"Better quit day dreamin' Kurusu!" The student said before tossing Akira's glasses on the ground causing them to get a slight crack in the lense.

"What a jerk, unluckily for him I memorized his face, we should change his heart Akira!" Morgana said hopping out of his bag in an attempt to pick up Akira's glasses.

As Morgana reached them Kasumi reached down and picked them up for him.

"Oh hello, Mr. Kitty! She said before putting Akira's glasses on his face.

"There now hopefully you can see better!" She said smiling at Akira.

"A little, I still can't see out of the right one for some reason though." Akira said while rubbing the lense with his shirt collar.

"Oh no the lens has a crack in it, I know I'll take you to buy a new pair Senpai!" Kasumi said as she wrapped her arms around his and pulled him to the train station.

"Hey wait I forgot to get Morgana." He said as he turned around and dropped his bag waiting for the cat to crawl inside it.

"Woah you're cat is really well trained!" Kasumi said as she pets him on the head poking out of Akira's bag.

"Yep, we can basically communicate with each other, we've been through a lot." Akira joked.

"That's cute, well let's get going!" Kasumi said as she took her new crush to the Optical Shop in Kichijoji.

"Hopefully the Optician here can help you out." She said.

"Hi, I'm the Optician here, you can call me Doc, so what seems to be the issue?" Doc asked looking at Akira, who pointed at the crack in his lens.

"I see, well I should be able to fix these but you'd be better off buying a new pair as they would take time to fix." Doc said pulling Akira over to the section that had his size.

Kasumi helped him pick out a pair that fit him settling on a nice pair of black glasses much like the original ones he had but they were much more flashy.

"I like them Doc, how much?" Akira asked awaiting an answer.

"500,000 yen please." He said as Kasumi marveled at the price.

"Alright then here you go." Akira said handing Doc 500,000 yen in cash which made Kasumi's jaw drop.

"How do I look?" He asked doing the classic glasses pushup with his Joker grin.

"A-Amazing," Kasumi said still entranced at how Akira had the money to pay for the glasses.

"Thanks, anyway I better head home or my guardians gonna grill me for dinner." Akira said as they made their way back to the train station and said they goodbyes and headed home.

"Well, that was eventful." Morgana said.

"You're right, it most definitely was, I never got to meet her before so it was nice to get to interact with her this time around. Akira agreed.

"Yep, let's go to bed it's getting late." Morgana said as Akira lied down on his bed and drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile at the Yoshizawa household...

"Hey Kasumi where were you, you weren't at school when I got out of my class so I decided to head home." Sumire asked.

"That's a secret!" Kasumi said blushing a little.

"Aww no fair, you better not have found some new trick that puts you, leagues, ahead of me ill never be able to catch up if you do that." Sumire complained.

"I guess you better practice then!" Kasumi said before going up to her room.

"Hey, Akira I've been meaning to ask you since you're from the future and all." Morgana stated.

"Am I a human or am I a cat?" Morgana asked worriedly.

Akira sighed "It's a long story, I'd rather not get too into it right now, I'll eventually tell you, but now is definitely not the time, once you grow stronger and realize it yourself then I'll tell you everything, but I will say that no matter what, you will always be my friend." He said with a smile.

"Thanks, let's get some sleep." Morgana said.

"Right." Akira agreed.

\- Chapter 4 "Friends and Connections" End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kasumi finally makes an appearance! and her role is interesting, I think that what I've done will be pretty good for this story as it will be a bit of a sibling rivalry but not too much as it isn't my main focus with this fic, next time the story will pick back up quite greatly, and if you couldn't tell, the palaces are going to be shuffled around so look forward to that.


	5. Sloth and Greed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker and Mona are trying to steal Futaba's heart in order to save her from the pains of her mother's death, They also have their eyes set on another target immediately after this one, and loads of side events happen after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its been too long without an update, as an apology I present to you the longest chapter yet. :)
> 
> I spent a while working on it so please enjoy it.

Akira woke up that morning and went to school the same as usual, he planned on having a mementos dive later but other than that nothing was planned. But when he checked his phone he noticed he had some messages from an unfamiliar number.

Alibaba: "You're a phantom thief correct?

Alibaba: "Is it true that you can steal hearts?"

Alibaba: "If so then I have a request."

Akira smirked while typing his reply.

Akira: "Yes I am a phantom thief."

Akira: "And You're Futaba Sakura correct?"

Akira: "You want me to steal your heart so you can be freed from the pain of your mother's murder right?"

Alibaba: "How do you know my name, just who are you?"

Akira: "You know who I am, and you shouldn't underestimate my intel gathering skills, I know you've been hacking my phone for a while, I can't underestimate the original medjed after all."

Akira: "Anyways, yes I will steal your heart for you, but only on one condition."

Alibaba: "Alright fine what is it?"

Akira: "You'll be my personal hacker for as long as I do business as a phantom thief."

Alibaba: "Fair enough, as long as I'm not overworked, im still young."

Akira: "Don't worry I may not even need you do to anything if I'm careful."

Akira: "But I must warn you, that I will need you to let me in your room in order for me to steal your heart, so mentally prepare yourself by the time I get there."

Alibaba: "Ok fine, I'll be waiting."

Akira: "Very well, this won't take long."

And with that Akria put his phone away and told Morgana the new plans.

"Change of plans, instead of mementos we are going to infiltrate another palace. This one is of Boss's daughter, its a pyramid and it should be fairly short as long as we are careful." Akira told Morgana who nodded as they headed for the trains.

When they arrived at Sojiro's house Akira knocked, headed inside, and waited outside Futaba's room.

"Alright just open up the door and read this and I'll be able to steal your heart, you can't go in your closet though." Akira said.

"Ok I'm ready, I'm opening the door." Futaba said as the door opened and Akira headed inside and saw Futaba sitting in her chair with her hands covering her face.

"Alright, now I just need you to read this and I'll be on my way." He said as he handed her a Red and Black calling card and Futaba began to read it.

"Ms. Futaba Sakura, you have committed a great sit of Sloth and refuse to accept the truth about your mother's death, and so we have decided to take those distorted desires from you without fail, this shall be none today. From the phantom thieves." She read as Akira fired up the metanav and brought all 3 of them into the core of the palace where Futaba's shadow was waiting.

"So you came, have you finally decided to stop running from the truth? You know what happened to mom but you still believe it's your fault." Futaba's shadow asked.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Futaba asked questioning where she was as she looked around to see a white-masked figure in a black trench coat and a small football-shaped headed cat-like thing.

"This is, the world inside your heart Futaba-chan." Joker said.

"Inside my heart? Is this a palace?" Futaba asked.

"Yep, this pyramid is exactly how you think of you're room and Sojiro's house." Morgana informed her.

"Wh-What are you, Who are you?" Futaba continued to question.

"I'm Joker and this is Mona." Joker answered.

"I see, so what does this all mean?" Futaba asked.

"We are going to steal your heart." Joker said as he walked up to the shadow and whispered something in her ear.

"I see, very well it shall be done." The shadow said as she looked at Futaba and began to speak.

"Take a look at this picture, what do you see?' The shadow asked Futaba.

"It's the men in black suits reading the suicide note to me in front of our family members." Futaba said.

"Everything in that suicide note is a lie, they made those things up in order to get away with their murder." Futaba's shadow informed as Mona gasped.

"What do you mean?" Futaba asked.

"Take a look at this picture, tell me what happened here." Futaba's shadow ordered.

"That's me asking mom if we could go on a trip, and she just scolded me for it." Futaba answered.

"That's not all, what else did she say?" Her Shadow ordered.

"She said, my cognitive psience research is very important and I need to finish it very quickly after I finish it we can go wherever you like." Futaba said.

"That's right. Mom loved you more than you remember, she didn't commit suicide that note was fake stop blaming yourself for her death, it was caused by unnatural means, not you." Her shadow informed.

"Take a look at this final picture, don't you see?" Her shadow asked.

"That's mom jumping in front of the car, I knew it she really did commit suicide." Futaba said beginning to have tears in her eyes.

"No she didn't, she did not jump into the road, she fell into the road remember." her shadow said, at this time Joker piped in.

"She experienced something called a Mental Shutdown, that happens when someone's shadow version of themselves is killed inside the cognitive world like where we are now, much like how if the shadow that you see in front of you should die here you will also die." Joker said.

"So mom was murdered?" Futaba asked him.

"Yes, Futaba-chan, you are not to blame for her death, do you see that now?" Joker asked.

"So mom was murdered, I believe it, I'm not to blame for my mother's death, she was killed." Futaba realized.

"You finally realize it, that's great, now you and I can become one again and never separate." Futaba's shadow said with a smile as she disappeared in a bright white light.

Just then Futaba began to feel weird and suddenly a pair of black goggles with red eyes appeared on her head which she instinctively tried to pull off and after doing so she awakened to her persona.

"You made me wait quite a while, you finally understand what happened to her and you now want revenge on her killer right?" Necronomicon asked.

"Yes, I've made up my mind I will avenge her no matter what!" Futaba replied.

"Very well, we can now proceed with the contract, I am thou, Thou art I..." Necronomicon said as it pulled Futaba up into it and the rest of the contract could not be heard by Joker and Mona.

"Joker I trust you know whats going on here right?" Mona asked worriedly.

"Yep, we will have to leave as soon as she finishes her awakening. Don't worry it'll be fine." Joker reassured Mona as Futaba then fell out of Necronomicon exhausted.

Joker caught her and smiled. "Well, we should probably get out before the collapse kills us." Joker said as they quickly activated the nav and returned to Futaba's room.

Akira layed Futaba down on her bed and left after writing her a note explaining what happened.

"Job well done Morgana." Joker said while patting Morgana on the head.

"Yep, well done indeed." Morgana replied.

5/9 20XX Akira's Room

"Akira I am curious, you said you wouldn't be allowing any more allies to join us, so why did you let Futaba?" Morgana asked expressing concern.

"I had a feeling you would ask, Futaba is a special case, she doesn't do any of the fighting with her persona, she provides extremely good support, and I don't believe I mentioned why I don't want any more allies fighting with me." Akira replied with a frown.

"Why is that?" Morgana questioned as Joker wrapped his arms around himself.

"As you've noticed I've been extremely protective of you in battle, I've made sure you had very little if any harm comes your way, back then, I wasn't strong enough to do that, and constantly everyone would get knocked out countless times in every fight, just to be brought back and repeat the process. It was painful, I was the only one who never fell unconscious, everyone protected me, I can't stand seeing any of my allies getting hurt, and... Nevermind now's not the time for that." Akira wanted to tell Morgana about Akechi, about how he nearly murdered everyone in cold blood but didn't want to take any risks.

"That's fine I can see its a bit of a touchy subject." Morgana said.

"To be honest, I think I would've ended up like him if I didn't have you here as a friend." Akira said thinking of Akechi.

"Him? Who are you talking about?" Morgana asked intrigued.

"Nothing, forget it, it's not the time to talk about him anyway." Akira said defiantly, as he went to sleep, but just before he noticed Kamoshida's medal on his shelf.

"Oh I forgot, we should sell that tomorrow." Akira said pointing at the medal.

Morgana nodded and curled up on top of Akira's stomach and went to sleep.

5/10 20XX

After school, Akira went to untouchable and looked at Iwai with a threatening look.

"What do you want kid?" Iwai asked looking up from his magazine.

"I want you to buy this, need about 30,000 yen." Akira said setting the medal on the counter.

"I could, but I only buy stuff from regulars and enthusiasts I can trust." Iwai carefully said.

"This "enthusiast" enough for you?" Akira said as he pulled out his model gun he got from itemizing Metatron a while back.

"Holy shit this thing looks and feels real?" Iwai said nervously.

"Don't worry its a model... and it'll stay that way as long as you buy my shit that is." Akira bluffed he knew Iwai too well and that he likes people who act tough.

"I like you kid, you got guts, sure, I'll go ahead and buy this medal for ya, 30,000 yen right? ok, here ya go." Iwai said in a louder tone.

"Thanks, see ya around, hopefully, you can show me the special menu sometime." Akira smirked after this statement pushing his glasses up.

As Akira was about to leave Ryuji walked through the door and noticed Akira standing at the counter.

"Hey Akira, didn't expect you to be into model guns." Ryuji said.

"What's it to ya, I'm only buying things that look better than what I have." Akira said in a harsh tone.

"Eek scary, anyways I'm sure you're busy see ya around." Ryuji said slightly mortified.

Akira sent him a text a few minutes after he left the shop.

Akira: 'Sorry about my tone back there, I have to act tough in front of the shopkeep otherwise he'll dismiss me as some highschool punk.'

Ryuji: 'So that's why. I was curious about why you did it.'

Akira: 'I'll make it up to you, wanna come eat at a buffet with me tomorrow?'

Ryuji: 'Sounds like fun as long as your payin' it sounds like fun!'

Akira: 'Alright see ya then.'

5/11 20XX

Akira and Ryuji met at the hotel buffet entrance.

"I'm paying so go all out, it's nice just 2 bros coming to eat at a fancy hotel." Akira stated.

"Yeah, it's nice, I'm gonna eat everything I can, you sure you have the money for it?" Ryuji asked.

"Don't worry its fine, I'm basically a millionaire." Akira joked.

"Well ok then, I trust you." Ryuji replied worriedly.

They made their way to the table and just like last time phantom thief gossip spread and everyone was thinking they're so mysterious and that they probably don't exist and that it was just a coincidence. Around halfway through their meals, Akira and Ryuji went to the bathroom and on their way back Akira they waited at the elevator.

"You, know I gotta say, this whole phantom thief thing seriously sounds insane, I hope it's real but I doubt it." Ryuji said as he began a small rant about how cool it would be to be like a superhero.

"You're quite right, it would be pretty awesome to change the hearts of shitty adults like Kamoshida." Akira agreed. 

Just then Shido and his party shoved Ryuji and Akira out of the way of the elevator.

"Hey what the hell!" Ryuji shouted at them.

"We're in a hurry." A vulgar man stated.

"It seems the setting here has changed since my last visit, I didn't know they turned this place into a daycare." Shido retorted.

"Have you looked in a mirror recently? Your head makes bald head makes you look like an infant" Akira remarked getting Shido's attention.

"What did you say brat?" Shido barked.

"Sorry old man are you going senile, need some hearing aids maybe? I asked you if you've looked in a mirror recently?" Akira said while pushing up his glasses.

"Listen here kid, you don't want to know what happens to those who oppose me." Shido exclaimed, just then the elevator door opened.

"Oh please, anything you can do is old news to me, it won't work anyway, have a nice day and good luck in your future election, oh wait, you're going to fail miserably." Akira laughed slightly as he hurried on to the elevator with Ryuji and closed it before Shido's party had time to react.

"That kid, where have I seen him before, he had a Shujin uniform on so I'm going to ask Kobayakawa, I'll make him regret trying to oppose me." Shido spoke as he yelled at his subordinate. "you there when we get back out to the car get Kobayakawa on the phone I'm going to figure out that kids name and tell Akechi his next assignment."

"Uhh yes sir!" The man said hastily grabbing a phone.

Meanwhile on the elevator...

"Dude that was badass, you stood up to that guy!" Ryuji said patting Akira on the back.

"That guy is at the top of my shit list." Akira told Ryuji who laughed.

"I feel bad for anyone who's on there." Ryuji said.

They left and went home for the day as Shido made his call to Kobayakawa.

"Kobayakawa!" Shido yelled into the phone.

"Yes-sir, what is it, I'm available right now if you need to meet!" The principal nervously answered.

"I need the name of one of your students, he's trying to oppose me so I'm going to make him suffer." Shido demanded.

"Yes-sir what did he look like, I'll find him immediately once I know." Kobayakawa said with confidence.

"He had black frizzy hair and wore a pair of glasses, he looked surprisingly fit and I think he was year 2." Shido stated.

"I think I know who you're talking about, his name is "Akira Kurusu" I believe." The principal said immediately as he memorized the criminal students' name.

"Good work, I have another call to make now so keep that investigation I asked you about up and don't fail me." Shido said as he ended the call and dialed Akechi.

"Akechi I have another mental shutdown I need you to cause." Shido demanded.

"Sure what's their name?" Akechi asked.

"Akira Kurusu, he tried to oppose me so now he's going to understand what happens who oppose me." Shido said.

"Alright, I'll take care of it as soon as im off of work." Akechi said, and Shido hung up.

"Just you wait Shido, I'm going to thrust you straight into hell by the time I'm finished..." Akechi thought maniacally.

Later that night...

"Target? Masayoshi Shido." Akira said in his bed.

"Candidate found, Error, Palace Not formed." The nav said.

"Dammit..." Akira thought.

5/12 20XX

"Alright Morgana, I have our next big target planned, I've confirmed they have a palace so I want to check it out today." Akira spoke to his cat while he sat on his bed getting ready for school.

"Well, who is it? don't keep me in the dark!" Morgana begged excitedly.

"His name is Kunikazu Okumura, trust me we want to get him out of the way asap, last time our group almost got arrested due to an incident that happened with him." Akira informed worriedly.

"What happened with him?" Morgana questioned.

"He died of a mental shutdown, a criminal mastermind sabotaged our operation." Akira informed.

"Holy cow, so there's another metaverse user?" Morgana asked surprised.

"Precisely, his names Akechi, and I hate his guts..." Akira said coldly.

"What did he do to make you hate him so much?" Morgana asked.

"You wouldn't understand if I told you." Akira said as he pulled out the glove Akechi gave him in his previous life and put it on.

"Well hurry and get to school, we don't have much time!" Morgana said, and Akria simply nodded.

School was normal, for Akira at least.

"You wished to see me Principal Kobayakawa? Makoto asked as she stepped into his office.

"Yes, it's about Mr. Kamoshida, you saw how he acted on that stage, that was completely abnormal, I guarantee some students had something to do with it, I want you to look into it, even if it means probing into student matters. If you succeed I will offer you a letter of recommendation to any college or university of your choosing." The principal offered in a friendly voice.

"Thank you, principal Kobayakawa, I'll see what I can do." Makoto said as she took her leave.

After school, Akira went to check out Okumura's palace, and surprisingly the palace layout was very different.

"Oh shit, this is much different than before, the biological doors aren't even here, and I doubt I'll even need any key cards for the elevators." Joker thought aloud.

"Interesting seems like we'll have an easier time then." Mona said.

They continued there way through the palace and got through the parts that Joker had trouble in last time easily, because the doors weren't locked and the airlocks were open all the way around, but that didn't matter as they were already active, not that Joker was complaining.

"Man, this was way easier than last time, I hope all infiltrations can be like this, that was easy as hell, anyways let's get the hell outta here and prepare the calling card." Joker said.

"Alright, but does this mean that our other infiltrations will be harder?" Mona asked.

"You are most likely correct since we infiltrated this palace just as it was forming, it hasn't become as advanced, however, we are going to run into more trouble in our future infiltrations as those palaces will become more distorted." Joker confirmed.

They left the palace and Akira immediately went to work on the next calling card, he decided he would send on the 15th so he waited until then and nothing unusual happened, for Akira at least...

5/13 20XX

"Let's see, target? Akira Kurusu. Location? Mementos." Akechi said to his phone.

"No candidates found." The mysterious voice said.

"Impossible! Everyone has a shadow, why can I not find it? Does he have a palace instead?" Akechi thought.

He started inputting random words to no success and after a while, he gave up and called Shido.

"It's me Akechi." He said in a cold voice.

"I'm busy, this better be important." Shido scolded.

"About that target, Akira Kurusu, that's his name correct?" Akechi asked.

"Yes, what of it? I told you to cause a mental shutdown." Shido said.

"About that, as it turns out, he doesn't appear in the nav at all, there's no way I can attack him." Akechi informed.

"Are you serious? Explain, everyone else has appeared in there I've told you about, so why doesn't he?" Shido asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, everyone has a shadow, unless he is a rare exception." Akechi said.

"Wait a minute, could this be what he meant?" Shido thought aloud.

"What, what meant?" Akechi asked.

"Back at the hotel, he told me anything I could do to him is old news to him and that it wouldn't work anyway." Shido said.

"I see, that certainly is interesting, there's no way he could have figured out that I'm behind the shutdowns, so what could he have meant?" Akechi questioned.

"That doesn't matter anymore, what we do know is that he's immune to your tampering, so I need you to find out why don't go out of your way to meet him though, that would cause unnecessary attention, but if the chance arises consider striking a deal in order to learn more about him, and why it doesn't work." Shido ordered.

"I'll see what I can do." Akechi said as he hung up the call.

"My what an interesting discovery I've made..." Akechi said as he gave off a burst of maniac laughter.

5/15 20XX

When everyone walked through Shibuya they noticed loads of red cards plastered everywhere that read.

"Sir Kunikazu Okumura, the great sinner of greed, you overwork your employees sometimes to death and never pay them their deserved over time, and thus we have decided to make you confess your crimes with your own mouth, this shall be done today... The Phantom Thieves of Hearts." a random civilian read aloud.

Gossip began to spread about this and it soon became breaking news, and Okumura himself found out and acted just as Kamoshida did, causing the whole world to go black before going on a rant about how he will not fail now that his dream is finally coming true.

Joker and Mona went to the treasure room inside his palace and immediately noticed it was gone, so instinctively Joker went to a higher point and used his grappling hook and swung through two giant closing doors with the big bang burger symbol on it, he then noticed Okumura attempting to leave with cognitive Haru by his side.

"Pesky thieves, you dare disturb me while doing business?" Okumura attempted to say, only to be muffled by his helmet.

"Haru destroy them!" He said.

"FATHERS ORDERS ARE ABSOLUTE!" a very robotic sounding version of Haru's voice said as she summoned tons of robots to work for them.

"Mona your up, I'm looking forward to seeing how far you've grown." Joker said ushering mona to fight.

"Alright, ZORRO SHOW YOUR MIGHT!" Mona said as Zorro appeared before him and cast a strong wind spell knocking down all of the robots.

"Pass the baton and I'll follow up!" Joker shouted.

"Alright your turn Joker!" Mona said as he ran up and high fived Joker causing him to get a power boost.

"YOSHITSUNE! Hassou Tobi!" Joker commanded as a white-masked persona behind him and began slicing all of the combatants into pieces, including Okumura.

"Alright I give up... you win, please don't kill me!" He pleaded.

"Return to your true self, and think about what you've done, repent and admit to all of your crimes! and don't control Haru as you see fit, let her make her own decisions every once in a while! Be a better father to her!" Joker demanded.

"Haru... your right, I've been awful as a father to her, I only saw her as a way to make a profit, I even forced her to accept an arranged marriage for my own benefit." Okumura said, as he faded into a bright shining light and disappeared.

"Joker grab the treasure and let's get the hell out of here!" Mona yelled as Joker did as he was told and they just barely made it out of the palace unscathed.

"I must say, Morgana, you have improved greatly, not as good as what you were in my past life but still going nicely." Akira complemented.

"Was I the strong warrior capable of wooing any girl?" Morgana asked confidently.

"No, you were the healer." Joker said with a smile.

"Oh, I see, well nonetheless another job well done, this will be all over the news!" Morgana said.

"Your right, but for now I'm gonna get some sleep." Akira said as he layed down on his bed and closed his eyes.

"He really is special, I wonder if he's shown me all of his power or not, I felt like he was holding back in that fight." Morgana said quietly.

5/27 20XX

Okumura called for an emergency press conference about his industry and he appeared on the news.

"I Kunikazu Okumura have repeatedly done things that were unbecoming of a CEO, I overworked my employees and refused to pay them extra, they barely made above minimum wage, some of those employees even died because of me, I have also been making deals in the shadows in order to bolster my reputation, I am unworthy to have received all that I have been given, I fully accept responsibility for all actions that have caused my employees deaths." Okumura said as he bowed and took his leave.

"If you're lucky you won't get any jail time due to you being a father, however, you will be heavily fined." a lawyer told him.

"I see, I will accept whatever happens to me in court, if things go south I will leave my corporation in the hands of my daughter "Haru Okumura"." Okumura said as he took his leave from the man.

"We did it, Morgana." Akira said patting his feline friend on the head.

"Mroww, stop it!" Morgana said trying to nibble Akira's hand for petting him.

"Jeez, Mona-chan is loud." Futaba said from behind Akira causing him to jump a little bit. 

"Oh, Futaba, you scared me there, finally woke up from your nap? I take it you're doing fine considering you walked all the way to Leblanc from Sojiro's house." Akira said.

"Yup, I'm doing just fine, thanks to you and Mona-chan, seriously though, thanks Akira you really saved me from my tomb." Futaba thanked with a slight blush.

"Your welcome! I'm glad we got to you when we did, who knows what might have happened, you might have started having hallucinations." Akira said.

"Yeah... But I'm all better now, let's go inside and ask Sojiro if he'll fix me some curry!" Futaba said.

"Alright, I'm coming!" Akira said as Futaba opened the door to Leblanc.

"Welcome, whats yo- Futaba?!" Sojiro questioned. "And your with her Akira? What the hell?"

"Sorry boss, I found her on my way here, she was asking me for directions to Leblanc and we got acquainted." Akira semi-lied.

"I see, so Futaba you came out of your room?" Sojiro asked.

"Well, duh why are you so surprised?" Futaba asked.

"I haven't seen you come out of there in months!" Sojiro said.

"Well I got over being sad, I'm all good now." She said as she sat on one of the seats at the counter and sipped some of the coffee.

"This is cold! You can't serve this to people!" Futaba scolded.

"Ahh you're right, I was expecting the kid here to get home earlier and it got cold." Sojiro said.

"Oh, well in that case it doesn't matter, drink up Akira!" She said as she pushed her glasses up menacingly.

"Ahh, no thanks im not into cold coffee." Akira said holding his hands out in front of them and waving.

"Only joking!" Futaba said.

They simply laughed and that day carried on as usual, but with Futaba in the mix, but when night-time came Akira called Futaba up to his room to discuss the phantom thieves.

"Now Futaba, as I told you if I stole your heart, you would be my personal hacker." Akira said.

"That's right I remember, what do you want me to do?" She asked.

"Please let me see your phone for a moment I need to verify something." Akira asked.

"Alright but don't get any funny ideas." She said as she unlocked her phone and handed it to Akira who scanned it for a few seconds before noticing a strange app with a mysterious red eyeball.

"I see... in that case." He handed Futaba her phone back and pointed at the metanav. "I'm going to give you a choice." Akira said.

"What app is that, I don't recall installing it." Futaba said with confusion.

"That is the metaverse navigator, I use it to traverse through palaces in the metaverse, like yours." Akira informed.

"Ok, so what is this choice you're giving me?" Futaba asked.

"Your choice is, to either join me in the metaverse as a phantom thief, or you can choose to just be my ally in the real world." Akira said. 

"Well that's a stupid question, I want to find out what happened to my mom, so I'm going to join you as a phantom thief if it means I can find out." Futaba said.

"So that's your decision? That's fine, should you wish to take it back that is also fine, I will not force you." Akira told her kindly.

"That's thoughtful but I will find out what happened to her and get revenge on the bastard who did it." Futaba informed.

"Well, I have good news and bad news for you then." Akira said.

"What is it?" Futaba asked.

"I know who killed your mother, but I cannot prove it and I, unfortunately, have to leave them alone for a while, due to an unforeseen circumstance." Akira said, he knew that if Akechi went to jail he'd have no chance of having Shido's palace show up and he'd be screwed, he needs Akechi to keep bolstering Shido's ego until his palace forms.

"Seriously! who did it! actually no, it'd be wiser if I didn't know if we're going to exact our revenge." Futaba said.

"That is correct if I'm going to get revenge on the bastard who gave me my record I, unfortunately, need to leave the person alone as they are very close to the bastard." Akira cursed.

"I see, well I'm tired so I'm going home with Sojiro." She said as she walked downstairs and told Sojiro she was ready to leave.

And with that Akira went to sleep feeling happy about saving Futaba and gaining another old ally.

5/28 20XX

Akira received a message that morning from Kasumi asking if he would come and watch one of her gymnastics performances later that day after school, which Akira happily accepted.

Akira: 'Sure I'll come, my schedule's clear for the next few days.'

Kasumi: 'Great, see ya after school Senpai, I'll lead you there so don't worry, Sumire will be joining us as well.'

Akira: 'Awesome see ya later.'

On his way to school, Akira noticed a certain Brown haired girl following him which he immediately recognized due to her magazine being upside down.

"Her tailing is as crappy as always." Akira thought.

He cut into an alley and walked around a corner waiting for Makoto to round the corner after him when he stopped her.

"Makoto Niijima? 3rd year at Shujin Academy and Student Council President, why are you following me?" Akira asked as he pushed his glasses up with an intimidating stare.

"Huh, oh I was uhh, just going to school through this way like I always do." She stuttered.

"This way doesn't lead to the school it goes right back to the station." He informed, now crossing his arms.

"I'm sorry, I'm terrible at this, I should've known you'd be able to catch me easily." She said with a sigh.

"Oh is the Student Council President developing feelings for the delinquent?" He teased, causing her to blush.

"Wha- Hell no, I'm only here because principal Kobayakawa asked me to!" She said before covering her mouth.

"So that's why. What would he want with me?" Akira asked.

"He asked me to find information on the phantom thieves so naturally, I picked the most suspicious student to tail, the new transfer student." Makoto informed.

"Oh god, I'd rather not be caught up in that mess and I'm already gonna be late as it is, I hate to break it to ya, but I'm a pretty normal high school student if I do say so myself." Akira claimed.

"I see, sorry for the trouble I caused you Kurusu-Kun." Makoto said as she bowed.

"It's fine, but can you make it up to me by not stalking me, it's kinda creepy..." Akira said rubbing the back of his head.

"Uhh yes sorry about that, I'll leave you alone now, goodbye." She said as she stood up and left.

Other than that the school day was normal, a few things happened here and there, mostly people talking about Okumura's confession, and how it was crazy that such an insane thing like superheroes really existed, and at lunch, Mishima approached Akira when his friends were away and told him about the phansite and somehow he figured out that Akira was a phantom thief, so he decided to exchange contact info with him and they would keep in touch in terms of the small targets, but other than that it was more or less the same, then after school came the time for the Yoshizawa's gymnastics practice.

Akira waited outside the front gate, this time off his phone in case someone tried pulling a stunt like last time, and after a few minutes, the girls came out and rushed over to him.

"Hey senpai thanks for waiting, you ready, I'm gonna perform twice as well with you watching me!" Kasumi said her bold attitude showing.

"Only if Sumire does the same, she better not fall too far behind." Akira said.

"I'll work 3 times as hard for you Senpai, I promise I will beat Kasumi someday!" Sumire said with her newfound confidence.

"Awesome sounds like you 2 have a bit of a rivalry forming!" Akira noticed.

"Could you tell, I won't lose to Sumire, so I'm gonna put my all into my performance while you're watching Senpai!" Kasumi declared.

"Interesting, let's see if you live up to my standards." Akira obviously joked.

"Oh, it is ON!" Kasumi challenged.

"Anyways Kasumi we should get going we don't want to be late." Sumire reminded.

"You're right Sumire, let's hurry!" Kasumi said as she grabbed Akira's arm out of his pocket and pulled him in the direction of the train as Sumire went red-faced and followed shortly after.

By the time they got to the train Sumire was already out of breath, the big coat she always wore was terrible for running in.

"That was unecesary Kasumi." Sumire pouted.

"Oh come on it was fun!" Kasumi responded as Akira just stood there awkwardly listening to the rumors of the other students.

"Hey isn't that Kurusu and the Yoshizawa twins?"

"Damn he's so lucky he gets both of them!"

"I'm so jealous." They said as Akira chuckled a bit.

Sumire and Kasumi were oblivious to the rumors with their small bickering going on.

"Of course you can't keep up, you have that massive coat on." Kasumi said.

"Don't diss my coat, it's very fashionable thank you very much..." Sumire defended.

"You're wearing it in the middle of spring." Kasumi debunked.

"So, it's just comfortable for me to wear." Sumire said.

"They're so cute arguing like that." Akira said in his mind, or so he thought.

"Senpai what did you just say?" A redfaced Sumire asked.

"Did you call us cute?" Kasumi asked, redfaced but not as much as Sumire.

"Huh, I must've thought aloud right there, so yes I did call you two cute." Akira said.

Sumire's face went redder than her hair and Kasumi just laughed at her.

"You should see your face Sumire its priceless, he says your cute and next thing you know your malfunctioning!" Kasumi laughed.

"To think that it'd have this much effect..." Akira thought.

They eventually got to the gym and Akira got to meet the Coach who was nice, but definitely strict and as she led the girls to the changing room they told her who Akira was and she then dropped her smile and when the girls entered their changing room she stopped to scold Akira who was sitting in a lobby chair waiting patiently..

"If you think that this is just some way for you to see some young girls in revealing clothes, you got another thing coming." Coach Hiraguchi said pointing her finger in Akira's face.

"You honestly think that's my aim here? It's truly hideous how you stereotype me to be a skirt-chasing pervert. Let me make one thing clear, I'm only here because Kasumi and Sumire ASKED me to be, I could care less about whatever their wearing or what they look like." Akira said giving the coach a deathly stare.

"You think I'm just going to believe that?" Coach Hiraguchi asked.

"Believe what you want, you should be helping them get ready instead of scolding me." Akira told her.

"I'll be perfectly honest with you, I know about your record and if you think I'm just going to let you do what you want with those two your wrong, don't try any funny business and stay away from them, criminal scum." Hiraguchi warned.

"How did you find out about that?" Akira wondered.

"Sumire let it slip, I don't trust you, you'll stay away from them if you know what's good for you." she said.

"Really? What are you gonna do about it? Just because you know that I have a record means nothing to me." Akira informed her.

"What would your principal say if I told him you're stalking the Yoshizawa twins and trying to get in their pants?" Hiraguchi said.

"Really? Blackmail? It's obvious you have no intention of letting someone have friends, are you really fine with taking away the girls ONLY friend?" Akira asked.

"I'd rather the girls have no friends than be friends with a criminal who doesn't know his place, I'll inform you that I have some very powerful connections and if you so much as walk in the same area as them again, I will make your life a living hell. Understand that Kurusu?" Hiraguchi threatened.

"Whatever you say, you know they'll never agree to that right Hiraguchi?" Akira asked.

"I know Kasumi will once she hears about your record, Sumire will follow her lead." Hiraguchi said.

"Has anyone ever told you how good you are at pissing people off, I came here to watch a performance my two friends INVITED me to, and you don't even know the details about my record, so how about instead of you coming over here and pissing me off saying your connections will come after me if I don't comply you mind your own god damn business and let me enjoy this for them." Akira was getting angry at this point.

"Not until you comply with my terms, you stay away from the Yoshizawa twins, and in return, I won't ruin your life." Hiraguchi said.

"Then I'm afraid we don't have a deal, I will not stay away from my friends just because their coach told me to because they don't trust me, in fact, do you know why I'm even their friend in the first place?" Akira asked.

"You probably managed to get into one of their conversations and got one of their numbers, am I right?" Hiraguchi asked.

"Wrong, I'm Sumire's friend because she almost got me killed in a street accident, and I saved Kasumi from an actual molester." Akira informed.

"Whatever, I don't care, my point still stands, stay the hell away from them if you know what's good for you." Hiraguchi threatened even more menacingly this time.

"What exactly are you going to do? Give me an actual reason instead of "My connections will get you!" alright?" Akira asked.

"Fine, don't say I didn't warn you, are you familiar with the supposed "Mental Shutdown" incidents?" Hiraguchi asked.

"Yeah, what of it?" Akira replied.

"Well, the person behind them just so happens to owe me a favor, if need be I can call them." She threatened again.

Akira just laughed and pushed up his glasses with a smirk.

" If you really knew who was behind those incidents you'd keep your mouth shut in public." Akira warned.

'Dammit, he called my bluff... now what...' Hiraguchi thought.

"Is that all?" Akira asked, quite annoyed.

"I'm not done yet." Hiraguchi said.

"What now?" Akira was now fed up with her.

"I want you to promise me something." Hiraguchi asked.

"What is it?" Akira asked.

"Promise me, that you'll stay with them and treat them nicely, and you won't just be after their bodies." Hiraguchi begged.

"I promise, you can count on me to protect them." Akira said finally happy she was backing down.

"Thank you, although I still do not trust you, I will allow you to continue being their friend, at least so I can better judge who you are." Hiraguchi said.

"Thank you, Hiraguch-san." Akira said as he bowed.

Akira watched the Yoshizawa's performances and he noticed how much worse they were than the one he went to with Sumire in the future.

'Their performances are awful compared to the one Sumire did in the future, Sumire was much better at it than she is now, Kasumi is doing well but she isn't doing anywhere near as good as Sumire in the future.' Akira thought to himself.

After their performances were over Kasumi and Sumire walked up to him and asked for his opinion.

"Well, Senpai? What do you think?" Kasumi asked.

"I would also like your opinion Senpai." Sumire asked.

Akira thought for a moment before speaking.

"I think both of your performances were very good, however..." Akira trailed off. "There is plenty of room for improvement, I noticed both of you fidgeting when tossing your ribbons, and Kasumi, you almost fell when you landed your final hop." He then went on to give a detailed explanation of how both of them can improve and what they messed up on and how they can improve that.

The girls just looked at him in shock that he actually knew what they were talking about.

"Senpai? Are you a gymnastics coach? It's like you've done this before." Kasumi asked.

"I might have, I might not, who knows?" Akira joked.

"Seriously, it's almost scary how much you know about this stuff, but thanks for your criticism, I'll definitely think about incorporating what you've said into my routine." Kasumi said.

"You're welcome, now then there's one other thing that I'd like to say to Sumire." Akira started. "You're still trying to copy Kasumi, I told you that it wouldn't work if you just copied someone else's performance, you can only go so far off of that. If you want to improve, you have to develop your own style."

"I, I know, I need to find my own style, just copying Kasumi will always end up with me placing below her, I'm still trying to find something that suits me better." Sumire replied.

"That's great, I'm glad you're taking my advice." Akira said.

"Senpai, that still doesn't explain how you know so much about gymnastics." Kasumi said.

"Huh, oh yeah, well can you keep a secret?" Akira asked with a slight blush.

Kasumi took a chance to tease Akira. "Sure, who's your secret lover?" She asked.

"Don't have one I'm afraid, if I probably won't have a lover for a while." Akira said with a sigh, as Kasumi looks down in defeat that her teasing plan didn't work.

"Well, yes I can keep a secret, please tell me." Kasumi begged.

"Alright, you see... I'm something of a gymnast myself." Akira said rubbing the back of his head as Kasumi burst into laughter and Sumire gave off a chuckle.

"You, do gymnastics? I don't believe it, I'll believe it when I see it." Kasumi said as she almost died of laughter, bringing some attention there way.

"It's not that funny, It's not anything crazy like you two, but I am quite trained in the field." Akira defended himself as he blushed.

"Senpai can you show me what you do? In gymnastics I mean." Sumire asked.

"I'll think about it, it's a little awkward." Akira said rubbing the back of his head.

"Pleeeeease." Both the twins begged, as Hiraguchi walked over.

"I also would be quite interested in seeing you perform, Kurusu." Hiraguchi exclaimed, from behind, causing Akira to flinch.

"Oh, Hiraguchi-san, you heard that didn't you..." Akira said looking kinda worried.

"Indeed I did, don't tell me it was a lie, you can do gymnastics right?" Hiraguchi questioned.

"I wasn't lying, but I'm not trained as to how these two have been." Akira said.

"Kurusu, can you come with me for a moment I have an offer to make you." Hiraguchi asked.

"Sure." Akira said as he walked with her a few feet away from the girls who began talking about dinner.

"Alright Kurusu, I'll tell you what, if you can create a ribbon performance that suits me, I'll get off your back about you and the girls." Hiraguchi said.

"Is that all? Just a ribbon performance and you'll leave me alone?" Akira asked for confirmation.

"One that suits me, is that a problem?" Hiraguchi questioned.

"Not at all, I have my gym clothes with me so I'll go change." Akira said, to Hiraguchi's surprise.

"Wait, your actually gonna do it?" She asked.

"Well you asked me, I'll perform if that's all." Akira stated.

"Alright then, I want to see it." Hiraguchi challenged.

"Very well." Akira accepted.

Akira changed into his gym clothes and went into the middle of a gym.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this..." He said as Hiraguchi looked at him with a smirk.

He closed his eyes, pushed up his glasses and opened them up again and began his performance, he did an enhanced version of Sumire's performance from the future, which no one recognized of course, and he even added on his own special bit, every twist turn and jump he nailed with perfect accuracy and every time he flung his ribbon he caught it perfectly, and it seemed he was getting faster and better for every second he performed, everyone was watching in pure and utter shock at Akira's perfect performance and when, he finally finished he gave his signature all-out attack pose that he always did and exclaimed.

"The show's over..." He said before catching the ribbon one last time.

"Ma-Magnificent..." Was all Hiraguchi could say, as the twins ran over to him and noticed he had barely broken a sweat.

"Senpai! That was a magnificent performance, how did you learn to do that?" Kasumi asked.

"You, wouldn't believe me if I told you." Akira said, thinking of his talking cat helping him perfect a performance.

"Senpai, do you think you could teach me? That performance you just did, it's similar to the one I had envisioned." Sumire noticed causing Akira's eyes to slightly widen.

"Interesting, well I don't really know, I'm a pretty busy person so I don't really know if I could or not." Akira said.

"I see, well that's fine." Sumire said slightly sad, and Hiraguchi walked over.

"Kurusu, I must admit, I thought you were lying when you said you did gymnastics, I'm sorry, now I'll hold up my end of the deal, you three go have some fun." Hiraguchi said.

"Thank you, Hiraguchi-san." Akira said.

What Akira didn't know was how viral his performance would go on the internet, as a bystander recorded his performance and posted it to their social media.

"Well, I must head home my guardians probably worried sick about me." Akira said.

"Okey-doke Senpai, see you later." Kasumi said as she began to converse with Sumire.

Akira went to leave but not before noticing a certain black cat on one of the bleachers.

"I must say, that performance was pretty good, it's nothing compared to the palaces though." Morgana said.

"Well, of course, I can't perform without my grappling hook you know." Akira said.

Morgana Jumped down and climbed into Akira's bag.

"Good to have my bag back, I'm curious though, where did you learn to dance like that?" Morgana asked.

"Oh, it was a combination of you and the Sumire from the future, we may have stolen her dance and improved it into a style that suits me, just as motivation for her." Akira said.

"Interesting, way to go future me." Morgana said as they left.

Akira went home and made some coffee and while he was making some he decided to turn the TV on and tune into the news to see if the phantom thief news had spread, to his surprise though, the news was about him, but not the phantom thieves.

"Today a young man presumed to be in his teens performed a ribbon dance at a gymnastics practice and a peer recorded it, and after posting it all over their social media, it went unbelievably viral gaining millions of views in the span of 2 hours." The news reporter said.

"You're shitting me..." Akira said, wide-eyed while watching his performance on live television.

"Wait, is that you kid?" Sojiro asked holding back a laugh.

"Yes..." Akira said with a sigh.

"Oh my god, that's the funniest shit I've ever seen. Since when do you do gymnastics?" Sojiro was now laughing.

"I was invited by a couple of my friends to see their performances and I just so happened to make one myself." Akira said with a facepalm.

Right before he went to bed Akira checked his phone and noticed a few messages from his friends, they all said the same thing.

Kasumi: 'Senpai you went viral!'

Sumire: 'Senpai, congratulations on your performance, it seems that you've attracted quite a large fanbase from the media.'

Ryuji: 'Dude I saw a thing on TV of you doing some gymnastics ritual or something?'

Ann: 'Since when do you do gymnastics? holy hell you're good!'

Mishima: 'I looked at the news hoping for something about the phantom thieves, and I saw you doing gymnastics and my jaw dropped!'

Akira didn't respond to any of them and just left it be, he decided he'd just go to sleep and that this would blow over. Oh, how wrong he was...

5/29 20XX

When Akira went to school the next morning it was like everyone recognized him as from the video and everyone gossiped immediately, Akira even had a bunch of fangirls waiting for him, which he didn't like all that much.

"Kurusu-Kun will you walk with us to school?" A bunch of them asked, which he just ignored and pressed on.

By the time lunch came around he had girls and guys alike following him around asking for his autograph and stuff, even Ann demanded one when he got to the courtyard.

"Aww come on, we're friends right?" Ann begged.

"Yes, but I'm not giving out any autographs, this whole thing with me doing gymnastics will blow over like a dead meme. I'm not gonna get wrapped up in celebrity shit." Akira said.

"That's fair I guess, but it's good to know that I'm your friend anyway I bet tons of people are gonna be jealous." Ann said.

"Senpai it's amazing how much people have blown up over your performance, but the live version was much better than the video." Sumire said.

While Akira was very popular with the girls, almost all of the guys hated him for this, the only ones who didn't were either the quiet ones or his friends.

"Look at Mr. popular over there, cocky bastards probably drowning in all his fame, just because he can twirl a ribbon too." They said.

"I know it's such bullshit, I hate his guts..." Another one said.

"He even has the two honor students all over him, lucky prick." Said another one.

"Hey I have an idea, come with me..." One said, probably planning something.

Akira decided that today he'd wait for most everyone to leave so he wouldn't have to deal with his fangirls.

"Phew, I think they all left, now we can leave." Akira said.

"Yep, let's head home." Morgana said.

On his walk towards the station a group of 2 students appeared in front of Akira, and 2 behind him.

"Can I help you?" Akira asked the 2 in front.

"Sure can, you seem to think your the big strong superman just cause you can twirl a ribbon around." One said while cracking his knuckles.

"Yeah, and I don't think you're anything special you prick." Another said.

"Such degenerates." Akira said before facepalming.

As he did one of the 2 from behind him came charging at him with a fist, which Akira sidestepped and grabbed his arm with one hand.

"What the hell?" He said as his arm was grabbed and flung onto the street.

The other one from behind him started charging at him and did a diving tackle stance which Akira just moved out of the way like he usually did a shadow and almost pounced for the ambush, but the guy fell face-first onto the ground and knocked himself out.

"Now then you were saying?" Akira said to the 2 in front of him.

"If you know what's good for ya stay away from the Yoshizawa's and Takamaki, their mine got that." A 3rd guy came from the alleyway who was much bigger and had slicked back yellow hair and a scar above his right eye said.

"And you are?" Akira said.

"I'm Kanji Tatsumi, I don't like when punks like you start stealing my fans, this school isn't big enough for 2 tough guys." Kanji said.

Akira just laughed. "What are you gonna do if I don't?" He asked.

"I'll punch your lights out." Said Kanji.

"I'd like to see you try." Akira challenged.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn ya." Kanji said as the two beside him ran up at Akira at the same time and he dodged both of them at the same time while also holding on to the Mona bag, and disarmed one of them and sat them beside their unconscious friends who didn't get up out of fear.

It was just Akira, Kanji, and his last goon left who managed to grab one of Akira's legs as Kanji managed to land a punch on Akira's face, but to Kanji's surprise, it wasn't Akira that was hurt from it.

"What the hell, your face is so hard! My hand." Kanji said as he looked at the blood coming from his knuckles in surprise.

"Pathetic..." Was all Akira said before kicking the last goon to the side and grabbing Kanji's uniform with his free hand.

"Don't worry, I have no intention of hurting you guys, remember though, all of these injuries are from when you guys attacked me, you'll do well to remember that the next time you want to try again." Akira warned.

"I ain't scared of you!" Kanji said.

"I was afraid you'd say that." Akira said as he got closer to Kanjis face and took off his glasses and gave off the deadliest stare that Akira could manage, it was enough to scare off anyone, and Kanji could have sword he could see the things that Akira has Ranging from a giant penis chariot to the death of Okumura.

"Your eyes, what the hell have you seen?" Kanji was genuinely terrified at what he just witnessed.

"Don't worry about it, now get your friends and please leave me alone." Akira asked before walking away.

"Wow, Akira you managed to fight all of them with one hand!" Morgana noticed before being met with a pat on his head.

"Well, of course, I'm not just gonna drop my cat and fight, I also had to give them some kind of handicap but still it was 4 on 1 it was an unfair fight either way, for them at least." Akira said.

"I'm also curious, you still haven't shown me your true power in the metaverse yet have you?" Morgana asked.

"What makes you ask?" Akira wondered.

"I noticed in our last fight that you didn't kill Okumura with your attack despite it being incredibly powerful." Morgana said.

"Well to answer your question yes, I haven't shown you my full power, I still have a persona I haven't shown you yet, but unfortunately it's too powerful to be used on palace rulers." Akira said.

"Seriously? How powerful are you?" Morgana asked.

"To be honest, I have no clue, if it really came down to it I have no doubt I could easily win every battle we face, so don't worry." Akira said.

Akira headed home and went to sleep.

6/10 20XX

Today was the last day of Akira's social studies trip and the day before he met Akechi in the hall with Ryuji and Ann just like last time, he said his line about pancakes which led to his downfall previously, Akira expected today to go the same as it did last time, and for the most part, he was right.

"Akechi-san, what do you think about the mysterious group known as the phantom thieves, they recently made Kunikazu Okumura have a change of heart, what are your thoughts?" The interviewer asked.

"A group of people who dedicate themselves to forcing evildoers to quit their evil ways, I truly hope such a group does exist." Akechi started. "However, I believe that the phantom thieves should be trialed in the court of law." Akechi finished.

"That's certainly an interesting approach Akechi-san, most young teens these days are all for the phantom thieves, may I ask your reasoning as to why?" The lady asked.

"The Phantom Thieves tamper with people's hearts as they see fit, claiming it as Justice, however it is not their position to decide what justice is." Akechi said.

"Interesting, now then, let's have our audience speak, you there, young man, what do you think about the phantom thieves?" A news reporter asked Akira.

"They do more than the cops, there are too many powerful people in this world who can control anything because of their influence, I believe that the phantom thieves work towards stopping those people, while the cops don't even worry about those people pulling strings, they go out of their way to arrest the people who try to do something about it, so Akechi-Kun, I must completely disagree with your statement." Akira said causing a bunch of whispering to go on.

"I see, that's a very interesting statement, now let me ask you, say someone close to you, for example, your friend next to you there, suddenly had a change of heart, would you think it was the work of the phantom thieves?" Akechi asked Akira.

"What would you think?" Akira returned the question.

"I see, returning the question back to me, interesting." Akechi said before being interrupted by the reporter.

"Thank you for your opinion young man, we hope to continue interviewing young students like yourself, so we hope you have a good day!" She said before she left.

After the event, Akira, Ryuji, and Ann began chatting and Ryuji rambled about how he didn't like Akechi which surprised Akira that he was on the thieves side slightly, but Ryuji went to the bathroom and Ann left to go find Shiho leaving Akira alone for a few minutes, just as he was about to leave Akechi came over to him holding his briefcase.

"Ahh its you, I'd like to thank you for today, to paraphrase Hegel, advancement cannot occur without thesis and antithesis." He said.

"Drop the act Akechi." Akira said.

"Act? What are you talking about?" Akechi asked.

"Don't act like a detective prince around me, I can tell your hiding your true colors, you're angry at something, or rather someone." Akira said.

"So you've seen through my act, you are correct, my detective prince act is something I only do for television and people I don't know." Akechi said.

"You know, you're quite the interesting fellow, wanna exchange contact info and maybe hang out sometime, I feel I can learn a lot from you." Akechi asked as he held his hand out for a shake.

Akira put on Akechi's glove in his pocket and revealed it.

"Drop the act and be yourself and you got yourself a deal." Akira said, holding his gloved hand out to shake Akechi's.

"That glove, is it the same brand as mine?" Akechi asked.

"I consider you my rival I hope you know." Akira said.

"I see, very well I accept." Akechi said.

"Oh, by the way, my names Akira Kurusu." Akira said, which caused Akechi's eyes to widen.

"You're Akira Kurusu? Wait you look familiar, are you perhaps the person who went viral for the gymnastics performance?" Akechi asked.

"Sadly, yes, that's me, I didn't think I'd garner this much attention." Akira said, as Morgana popped out of his bag.

"Goro Akechi, is he the one?" Morgana asked, and that caused Akechi's eyes to widen.

"Your cat, did it just talk?" Akechi asked, rubbing his eyes.

"What are you talking about, its just a regular cat." Akira lied.

"No, I definitely heard it talk, it just said; Goro Akechi, is he the one?" Akechi said.

"You must be hearing things, anyways I gotta go, nice chatting with you." Akira said, as Akechi looked in worry.

'Akira Kurusu, first you are immune to mental shutdowns and now you have a talking cat, just who are you?' Akechi thought.

Chapter 5, Sloth and Greed,

-End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, this chapter, is a doozy, huh, I'd like to say that even though Kanji was in this chapter if I include and other previous persona characters they will only be minor characters. I hope you liked reading this as it took me a while to make, especially with my classes starting back up, thanks for reading! :)


	6. Gluttony Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto learns of Akira being a phantom thief, but before that happens some nice fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I'd like to apologize for the drop in quality of the previous chapter, I realized that I tend to rush through and slack off when it comes to writing about things I'm uninterested in, so for that I'm sorry.
> 
> Second, I'm going to try to go for shorter but more frequent chapters, I hope everything goes as planned, thanks for reading. :)
> 
> Third, I know this chapter is slightly shorter than usual, but I've been preoccupied so I haven't been able to write much, apologies.

Akira headed back to where the rest of his class was and Ryuji caught up shortly.

"Was that Akechi you were just talkin' to?" Ryuji asked.

"Yup, why?" Frizzy-hair asked.

"I thought you hated the guy, seeing you talk to him live." The Blonde answered.

"I do, although he is entitled to his own opinions and I must respect that." Glasses-Kun stated.

"Fair enough, so what were you talking about with him?" Asked the Spunky boy.

"Just how he was interested in speaking to me more, now it seems we've become rivals." Akira answered.

"Oh, cool, to be honest, I'm glad the phantom thieves do what they do, I hated Kamoshida and after they took care of him I was so happy, Okumura was a scumbag to his employees so seeing his heart get changed was nice, though I feel bad for his daughter, she goes to our school and all, hey do you think maybe I got a chance with her?" Ryuji asked.

"Not in your life, I doubt she even knows who you are." Akira answered.

"Aww, you don't gotta rub it in like that." Ryuji whined.

They continued down the hallway of the studio towards where Ms. Kawakami instructed them to meet up before a middle-aged man with a pair of bright scarlet glasses called out to Akira.

"Hey you, with the black frizzy hair!" He called out in a friendly tone.

Akira immediately recognized who it was that called out to him but still acted unfamiliar.

"Can I help you, sir?" Akira asked him.

"Yes, I would like to thank you, for being an interesting guest on my show today, that was you right, the one who had a conversation with Akechi-san right?" The man with the scarlet glasses asked.

"Yes that was me, what's your name sir?" Akira asked awkwardly.

"Oh, how rude of me, I completely forgot to introduce myself, my name's Shinichi Yoshizawa." Shinichi replied.

"Yoshizawa!" Ryuji exclaimed.

"Uhh yes is there a problem young man?" Shinichi asked Ryuji.

"Oh uh, no not at all." Ryuji awkwardly said.

"Sorry about him Yoshizawa-san, my name's Akira Kurusu, and this is my friend Ryuji Sakamoto." Akira said in a very friendly manner.

"Kurusu? Where have I heard that name before?" Shinichi thought out loud.

"Aww crap, we're gonna be late, c'mon Akira I don't want Kawakami to yell at us." Ryuji said as he frantically began pacing in place.

"Oh, you're right, gah let's hurry! Goodbye Yoshizawa-san!" Akira said as he sped off with Ryuji, leaving Shinichi to continue thinking for a few minutes.

"Kurusu, Kurusu, Akira Kurusu, hmmm... Oh, I know now, you're that kid who was helping Sumire and Kasumi!" Shinichi finally came to his realization as he noticed that the boys had left.

"Oh, well I guess they left, I should probably get back to the set." Shinichi said.

On his way back Shinichi overheard Akechi talking on his phone, he thought about showing himself, but Akechi was giving off a blood-thirsty vibe and Shinichi decided to just wait where he was.

"Shido-san, I met the guy Akira Kurusu, and he saw straight through my detective prince facade." Akechi said in his cold bloodthirsty voice he used when talking to Shido.

"What's with that kid, it's like he can read our minds, so tell me anything else interesting happen?" Shido asked.

"Yes, I still don't know whether I was hallucinating or not, but I'm quite sure that Akira Kurusu has a talking cat, while I was talking to him it poked its head out of his bag and said a full sentence." Akechi informed Shido.

"Interesting, I'm pretty sure you were just hallucinating but I have an idea if we can't kill him with the mental shutdowns kill some of the people around him, I'm sure that wouldn't be any trouble for you."

"You want me to cause mental shutdowns in all of his friends, I may be a little heartless, but that's just too far Shido, there's no way I'm going to kill so many people, that would just seem too suspicious, I have a better idea, though it will take quite a long time" Akechi informed Shido.

"You're right, I'll trust this idea of yours though, do not fail me." Shido said before hanging up.

Somehow after hearing everything, Shinichi managed to get away without being detected, but a cold sweat formed and began going down his back after hearing what he just heard, Akechi was behind the mental shutdowns and he was terrified of what Akechi was going to do, but he decided that it was a bad idea to stay any longer so he left.

When he was safely away he began collecting his thoughts and let his heart rate decrease.

"I hope the girls will be fine, it wouldn't be wise to bring this up anytime soon." Shinichi said.

Back at the meetup spot for the class, Kawakami gathered up everyone and told them they were dismissed for the day.

"And that concludes our field trip, next Monday I expect everyone to be back at the academy and on a normal schedule." Kawakami instructed.

"Yes, Mrs. Kawakami..." The whole student body groaned.

Everyone left for the day and Akira went to bed like normal and had his usual velvet room dream about Igor trying to tell him what's to come, even though he already knows most of what he's telling him.

A few days went by and every other day Akira would meet Akechi at the subway line every other day, but this time he would constantly ask him about his friends and their names, nothing else about them, just their names and he would deter away any time Akira tried talking about anything else about them he would walk away without listening, this made Akira really suspicious as to what he was going to do, so he decided to make a plan with Futaba after exams were over and he had his next target decided upon.

6/18 20XX

Exams had just ended so Akira was looking forward to spending some time relaxing after the exams he had to take twice, so he decided to invite Kasumi and Sumire out for a post-school meal at Big Bang Burger Shibuya, which they gladly accepted due to them being off of their gymnastics every day due to exams.

Akira, Kasumi, and Sumire's group chat-

Akira: Hey, wanna come eat at a Big Bang Burger in Shibuya with me? Exams are over so I'll treat you two as a bit of a thanks for letting me watch your practice, they have some very large meals.

Kasumi: Sure, I'll be there, I'm gonna empty your wallet!

Sumire: That sounds nice, thank you Senpai.

Akira realized that they probably only agreed to come because he asked and that they probably didn't like burgers much, but he decided not to make a change anyway.

When Kasumi and Sumire arrived they were for the most part normal, Sumire was still as shy as she always was and Kasumi was full of energy and ready to eat. Akira decided to gauge their appetites by ordering the Gravity Burger for them first, he of course ordered the Cosmic Burger.

When their food came the twins were astonished at the size of the burgers.

"Woah, our burgers are huge senpai, I didn't know they made them this big!" Kasumi exclaimed.

"Yes, they are much bigger than I was expecting its quite astonishing." The younger twin stated.

"If you think these are big wait till you see mine." Akira said with a Joker grin only he could pull off.

"Alright, sir here's your burger, good luck finishing it!" The waitress kindly said as she walked off.

"WOAH SENPAI, THAT THINGS MASSIVE!!" Kasumi yelled, causing heads to turn and Akira accidentally spit some of his drink out after hearing what Kasumi said.

"Uhm Kasumi, maybe you should think before you speak." Sumire politely reminded her older sibling.

"Huh, why?" The ribbon haired girl asked.

"Take what you said out of context." Sumire instructed.

"Huh, oh wait..." Kasumi began blushing before looking over at Akira who was about to burst into laughter.

"Sorry Senpai..." Kasumi said before slumping in her seat a little bit feeling like she just lost all of her pride.

"Don't worry I get that a lot." Akira joked making both the girls blush.

"Anyways let's dig in before it gets cold." Frizzy hair said.

"Right!" The twins shouted.

The twins finished their burgers before Akira even got a quarter of the way through his, Kasumi, and Sumire even ordered again.

"Excuse me, waitress, I'd like to order what he's having please!" Kasumi waved at the waitress who looked at her wide-eyed before giving her an "Are you sure?" look, which Kasumi nodded to.

"Wait, Ms. I too would like one." Sumire asked the waitress who awkwardly nodded before heading back to the kitchen.

a few minutes later and Akira was about halfway done and the waitress brought back Cosmic Burgers for both the twins.

"Good luck finishing this, girls, I'd be surprised if you can do it." The waitress said before awkwardly walking off.

"Thank you very much." The twins said in unison.

They began eating and eating and after that, they ate again, they were able to finish their burgers from start to finish before Akira could finish even though he had a massive headstart.

"Damn, you two have some crazy appetites, you passed me up, how the hell do you two eat so fast?" Akira asked genuinely curious.

"Oh we had to get used to it, we had to eat such large meals for our practices and we had such little time for lunch eventually we made a habit of fast eating." Kasumi informed.

"Well that makes sense, I can imagine that." Akira stated.

Akira left to pay and when he came back he told them that he had to leave.

"Sorry, I have some business to take care of, I'll see you later, it was nice treating you two." Akira said in a friendly apologetic tone.

"Don't worry about it Akira-Senpai, we'll see you later." Kasumi stood up and bowed.

"Goodybye Senpai." Sumire did the same.

"Buh-bye." Akira said before leaving with a smirk.

After he got back to Leblanc, he noticed Futaba was sitting on one of the stools, which was unusual as she usually was waiting right outside of Leblanc looking at the bugs crawling around.

"Hey kid, Futaba's gonna help out at the shop today, I want you to show her the ropes." Sojiro ordered.

"Sure thing, alright Futaba, grab an apron and help me wash some dishes..." Akira went on about his everyday tasks and what Futaba can do while avoiding some of the customers.

Meanwhile...

Kasumi and Sumire were walking home when Sumire suddenly spoke up.

"Kasumi, I've been meaning to ask recently..." She trailed off.

"Hmm? What is it? You feeling ok?" The older twin wondered.

"Yes I'm fine, I'm just curious about something... rather someone." Sumire lowered her voice.

"Well? What is it?" Kasumi asked.

"It's about Akira-Senpai, Kasumi? Do you have feelings for him?" Sumire was really nervous when she asked her question.

"To be honest, yes, yes I do." Kasumi stopped and stared at the ground.

"Why haven't you asked him out then?" Sumire asked.

"I... It's because... It's because i'm scared, ok?" Kasumi was blushing and began holding one of her arms.

"The Kasumi Yoshizawa is scared?" Sumire looked at her in astonishment.

"Cut it out! Just because I appear really confidant doesn't mean I'm fearless!" The older twin yelled.

"Well you're act sure fooled me." Sumire chuckled a bit.

"But I've noticed how you only get embarrased around him." She continued, and Kasumi flinched.

"Well what about you? Do you have feelings for him?" Kasumi asked.

"Wha! Wait! No, no, no ,no, I don't have feelings for Akira-Senpai!" Sumire denied.

"ItsNotLikeIWantToHoldHisHandOrMakeHimLunchEverydayOrHaveNiceDatesOrAnything!" Sumire waved her hands in front of her and began blushing, while Kasumi just looked at her.

"What. The. Hell?" She said, before laughing.

"Sumire you really crack me up!" She enlightened.

Sumire finally calmed down.

"But it doesn't matter..." She trailed off.

"Huh, why?" Kasumi stopped laughing.

"There's no way he'd choose me over you..." Sumire continued walking with her head down.

Kasumi had no answer, she just walked home a few feet behind Sumire and watched to make sure she didn't run into any traffic.

6/20 20XX, After School

"Hey, Kurusu-Kun I'm glad I caught you before you left, Niijima-San is looking for you in the student council room." Ms. Kawakami said.

"Wait really? Alright then." Akira immediately began to wonder. 'Theres no way she caught me, I made sure I never said anything about the thieves in public.'

"Alright well get going! Jeez what am I doing, running errands for a student." Kawakami sighed.

Akira walked to the Student Council Room with Morgana in tow, it was on the 3rd floor and Kasumi and Sumire were just released from class and they noticed him walking into the Student Council Room with curious looks.

"Did you know Akira-Senpai was a member of the student Council?" Kasumi asked.

"No, I didn't we'll have to ask later." Sumire said.

"Or! we could listen in now!" Kasumi rejected.

"That's an invasion of Senpai's privacy! and what if you get caught?" Sumire whisper yelled.

"Don't worry about it! I'm gonna take a listen once most of the crowd leaves." Kasumi schemed.

"Well I'm not going to risk getting caught, so I'll just head on to practice then." Sumire said.

"Yeah, Yeah, you do you." Kasumi rhetorted.

Sumire huffed and then practically stomped down the stairs.

"Good afternoon, thank you for coming, I honestly thought you wouldn't show." Makoto said confidently.

"Whats up, can't say no to the student council president." Akira smirked.

"I'll cut straight to the chase, take a look at this please." Makoto beckoned him to look at something on her laptop.

It was a video of Akira entering Okumura's palace, and talking to Morgana, though no one else could understand him, but something strange happened, the video cut out unexpectedly.

'Dammit, I completely forgot to check for her!' Akira cursed in his head.

"Immediately after recording this I went to a bizzare place like a space station, it was there that I saw you running around slaying weird beasts and creatures, I too ran into my own issues, I got curious and wandered around, soon after I saw a robot that looked like my best friend, Haru Okumura, then this weird blue man in a space shuttle ordered it to attack me." Makoto went on.

"You awakened to your persona didn't you?" Akira closed his eyes praying that this was a dream.

"How did you? You have one too correct? I'm still curious about that world, but I'm going to get to my point, you and your friends are running in that world as phantom thieves, am I right?" Makoto asked smugly.

"Not completely, my friends have nothing to do with it, they have nothing to do with my actions, I'm afraid." Akira pushed his glasses up with a frown.

"I see, well then, I'd also like to point out that recently a mysterious app with a red eyeball logo appeared on my smartphone without my influence, do you know something about this?" Makoto asked.

"I suppose there's no point in hiding it to you any longer, yes, that app allows you to travel to the meta-verse and back from it." Akira said.

"Interesting, so its just a smartphone app?" Makoto asked.

"Yes." Akira replied.

"I have one more question, who was that other person you were talking to in my video?" Makoto asked.

"Sorry, but I can only tell you that under certain conditions." Akira said.

"And those conditions are?" Makoto asked.

At this point Kasumi began listening in.

"Join me." Akira said bluntly.

"Join you? What do you mean?" Makoto questioned.

"It's exactly as I said, I would like you, Makoto Niijima, to join me." Akira said.

"What do I get out of this?" Makoto asked.

Kasumi accidentally bumped the door causing the two to lower their voices.

"If you want to know more, meet me at a place called Leblanc in Yongen-Jaya." Akira half-whispered.

"What why?" Makoto asked.

"Are you interested or not?" Akira raised his voice a bit.

"I must admit, I am slightly interested to hear what you have to say, fine I'll be there." Makoto said in a normal voice.

"8pm Sharp, I won't wait long." Akira said before grabbing his bag and heading towards the door with a smirk. 'She no longer has me under her thumb, I'll protect her though, I won't have to worry, right?' Akira thought in his head.

"Alright then, I'll see you then, don't keep me waiting." Makoto threatened.

"Whatever... Queen." Akira waved over his shoulder before grabbing the door handle and leaving not before catching a glimpse of a brown pony tail flying down the stairs, while Makoto began to think.

"Queen, what did he mean by that?" Makoto wondered.

Gluttony Part I

-end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry to leave it on a slight cliffhanger, but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless.
> 
> Stay Tuned!


	7. Gluttony Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto joins as a member of the phantom thieves, and they work to secure a route to the treasure in Kaneshiro's palace and send the calling card.
> 
> And Akechi begins his plan soon after...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a slight confession, instead of writing this chapter, I've been coming up with fluff ideas, :/ 
> 
> I've also had my classes start back up so I've been juggling a lot of things, I hope that this story can stay alive, but uploads will be less frequent for the time being as I recently bought royal and have been no lifeing that game.
> 
> For future reference, unless the palace infiltration is majorly different I'm not going to detail it, I will go over small changes though.

It was 8 pm and Makoto was standing outside of Leblanc thinking.

'What could he want, I'm definitely missing something here.' Makoto thought to herself, and she then set foot into Leblanc.

"Welcome." Sojiro said as he turned to Makoto.

"I'm looking for someone named Akira Kurusu, is he here?" Makoto respectfully asked.

"Oh, the kid? Yeah, just head upstairs." Sojiro said with a smile.

Makoto bowed and headed up the stairs and saw Akira playing a game with Futaba on his console.

Makoto cleared her throat and got Akira's attention.

"Oh, you actually came, Futaba can you turn this off, we have a guest." Akira asked.

"Whatever, whats she here for anyway?" Futaba stood up and turned off the console as Akira grabbed another chair and set it next to the table he had out.

"This is the newest member of The Phantom Thieves of Hearts." Akira told her much to Futaba's surprise.

"Really, does that mean she has a Persona?" Futaba asked.

"Kurusu, I thought you said your friends weren't involved with your actions," Makoto stated.

"I never said anything about family, or well, we're basically family." Akira said.

"I see, well that's fine, anyways my name is Makoto Niijima, and it seems I'll be aiding you in your escapades until I've confirmed your justice." Makoto declared.

"I'm Futaba Sakura, Akira here is basically my older brother, I'm only here because he stole my heart, if not for him I'd still be a shut-in." Futaba introduced herself and Makoto smiled a bit.

"Alright then, Kurusu, would you please get started with what you wished to discuss?" Makoto asked as she took a seat.

"Alright, you asked earlier if you would get anything out of this correct?" Akira tried confirming with Makoto.

"Yes that's correct, what would I get out of helping you." Makoto questioned.

"I'll be honest with you, there's another meta-verse user, except they don't use it for good like we do, we change people hearts in order to make them quit there evil ways or like in Futaba's case we steal their hearts so she can be free from the guilt she had. However, this evil meta-verse user chooses to use his powers for evil and he kills people by giving them Mental Shutdowns." Akira started.

"What? That still doesn't explain how I get anything out of this." Makoto said.

"What you get out of it is safety, Afraid to tell you but on your own, you're no match for them, they'd wipe you out in an instant, if you wander into a palace and run into them, you'll die." Akira said this with coldness as he put his hand together and rested them under his chin.

"Really? Just my own safety?" Makoto questioned.

"Not just yours, your sister too." Akira informed.

"How did you know about my sister? Why is she in danger anyway?" Makoto furiously questioned.

"You may or may not have realized but she has a palace." Akira said.

"A palace?" Makoto questioned.

"Oh right, a palace is a persons distorted vision of a certain place, it forms when a person's desires become distorted to the point that they let themselves be controlled by their distorted desires, they are also the world we enter in order to change someone's heart." Akira informed her.

"So your going to change her heart if I don't accept?" Makoto asked.

"We're going to change her heart eventually no matter what, but what I'm saying is that she could have a mental shutdown instead of a change of heart if the criminal gets to her first." Akira told her with a stern voice.

"I see, well I was going to join anyway, but I'm glad I'll at least get something out of it." Makoto sighed and put her hands on her lap.

"Welcome to the team, I've already decided on your codename so don't worry about that." Akira said with a smug grin.

"Codename? What's that?" Makoto tilted her head in curiosity.

"Well it wouldn't be smart if a phantom thief used their real name in a palace, there's also no telling what effect it would have on the ruler. using codenames is our way around this." Morgana piped up.

"Woah! The cat! It. just. talked. ohmygod!" Makoto began scrambling words together.

"Yeah it's crazy, he can talk, his names Morgana by the way." Futaba joined in.

"Well then, whats my codename?" Makoto turned back to her serious expression.

"I'm Joker, Morgana is Mona, and Futaba is Oracle, you will be Queen." Akira said as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"So that's why you called me that earlier, why Queen?" Makoto was skeptical.

"Because your going to be the brains of the operation, and queen suits you best." Akira gave his opinion.

"Very well, I like it, I'll go with Queen." Makoto agreed.

"Well, I'd like to inform you that our next target is a man named Junya Kaneshiro, he's a mafia boss who blackmails high school students into paying large amounts of money." Akira began to give information to the group.

"I was just about to ask if you would change a mafia boss's heart." Makoto played with her hair as she listened in and Futaba was doing something on her phone and Morgana cleaned himself.

"I have seen his palace and unfortunately in order to enter it, we need to change his cognition." Akira said.

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked.

"His palace floats high above the sky, and unfortunately Morgana can't turn into a helicopter so we have to make him think we're his bank customers." Akira said.

"How do we do that?" Makoto wondered.

"I need you to do something risky..." Akira began.

"What? Are you insane? What if it backfires? What happens then?" Makoto asked.

"Don't worry, it won't, besides he's a dumbass it won't be difficult to get you out of there easily." Akira told her, and she began to calm down.

"Fine I'm putting my trust in you, please don't fail." Makoto said.

"Relax, I have a backup plan if this fails so don't worry. And make sure you act naturally like we aren't planning something." Akira instructed.

"This is such a bad idea..." Makoto eventually gave in and they set their plan into motion the next day.

After Makoto left...

"Hey, Akira, why did you let Makoto join us this time? You said you didn't want to risk anyone else getting hurt." Morgana asked.

"I didn't really have a choice, she would've wondered into a palace on her own, and gotten killed, or worse..." Akira put a hand up to his forehead and shook his head.

"I guess you're right, if something like this happens again I'll just assume it's for the same reasoning.

8/21 20XX, After School, Central Street, Shibuya

"Do you guys know Kaneshiro?" Makoto yelled loudly at two men in an alleyway.

"What the fuck?" The man asked his friend.

"I heard that I can find someone named Kaneshiro if I came to central street." Makoto said a bit louder.

"You really gonna ask that knowin' who he is?" The man's friend asked.

"Tell him, that if he doesn't want me running my mouth to the police he better agree to meet with me." Makoto demanded, which made one thug pull out his phone and dial presumably Kaneshiros number.

After about a minute he spoke to Makoto again.

"He's agreed to meet you, now get in." He said getting into the driver's seat of the car.

"You better be taking me to Kaneshiro." Makoto said.

"HE SAID GET THE FUCK IN!" The man yelled pushing Makoto into the car.

After a ride, Akira was already waiting near the place Kaneshiro was, and he made sure Futaba bugged the whole place so he had plenty of evidence in case things went south, he was waiting in the alley nearby so they could take Makoto in without suspicions.

When they got in there Makoto was immediately strapped to the floor and the men took her phone.

"Who's this your boyfriend?" Kaneshiro asked pressing his hand down on Makoto's head.

"Did you really think that would work?" He asked laughing.

"Let me go you bastard!" Makoto demanded.

"Easy now, wouldn't want anything happening to you, your gonna make me lots of money, Ms. Student Council President." Kaneshiro began.

'Great it's going just like he said, now I just need him to get me out of here.' Makoto thought to herself.

"Yo, sorry but that's my friend, she always tends to get into trouble, sorry for the inconvenience." Akira made his presence known to the Mafia.

"Tch, you know what, you pissed me off, I feed on dumbshits like you, so now, you owe me." Kaneshiro took out his phone and took a picture of Akira and Makoto.

"You have 3 weeks to bring me 3 million yen or else." Kaneshiro threatened.

"Yeah, yeah, you want money big deal." Akira began to get annoyed.

"You sound like your able to pay it off." Kaneshiro said smugly.

"Maybe, maybe not." Akira refused to say yes or no.

"I changed my mind, 30 million yen in 2 weeks." Kaneshiro laughed as he stood up and moved over to Akira while holding Makoto by her hair.

"Listen here you little shit, you run your mouth to the police and I'll break all of you, starting with your families, you've gone and pissed me off and now you're going to regret it." Kaneshiro threatened, he then threw Makoto by the hair towards Akira and he laughed. "Take her, once I've got my money I'll let you off the hook, it'll be easy if you beg your mommies and daddies." He said.

"Let's get the hell out of here, this isn't a good place to be." Makoto said as she darted for the exit and left the building, Akira followed but as he grabbed the door handle he turned back to Kaneshiro.

"Alright." Akira said before following Makoto.

Outside Futaba joined them with Morgana as Makoto feared for her life.

"I hope that went well because otherwise we're screwed." Makoto began to whine.

"Don't worry you did perfectly, lets travel to his palace now." Akira said as he entered the keywords into the nav.

After a few moments, the world suddenly changed, and walking atm's could be seen and everyone changed into their phantom attire.

"Woah, it's much different compared to that space station!" Queen exclaimed.

"Indeed, now we just have to wait for Kaneshiro's bank to fly over our heads." Queen took that part as a joke but she quickly realized that he wasn't joking as the bank began floating over them, with sheer surprise over Queen's face.

Joker giggled as the bank descended towards them and a staircase of white appeared before them.

"It's floating in the air!" Queen exclaimed putting a hand above her mouth.

"Anything can happen inside a palace." Oracle informed her.

"I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it, anyways let's get going." Makoto took a few steps forward as they entered the palace and Joker stopped them.

"Careful, Kaneshiro has lots of guards, and there's camera's too, we'll sneak in through the side entrance over here." Joker pointed over to the pig on the right-hand side and opened it up.

"This way!" Joker ordered as he jumped down the hole and everyone else following.

Their infiltration was not very different at all as they were entering the palace at basically the same time they did last time, so the distortion had no time to get out of hand. They made their way to the vault and solved all of the combinations with ease as Joker had them memorized. They eventually made it into the core of the vault and secured the route to the treasure.

"Now returning to the real world from "Kaneshiro's Palace" thank you for all your hard work." Meta-nav spoke as they exited the palace.

"That was exhausting!" Makoto complained as they met back in the real world.

"You'll get used to it eventually." Akira said before they all said their goodbyes and left for the day.

About a week later they decided to send the calling card.

"Sir Junya Kaneshiro, the great sinner of gluttony, you blackmail innocent people into giving you riches and destroy their lives, and so we have decided to take your distorted desires without fail, this will happen today, so we hope you will be ready... from the Phantom thieves" One of Kaneshiro's lackeys read the card out loud to him and Kaneshiro cursed under his breath.

"ALL OF YOU BRING ME YOUR EARNINGS! If you don't surpass your quota, I'll kill you..." Kaneshiro ordered as he flung open his suitcase to stare at the money in it.

"Y-Yes-sir!" The man reading the card said.

The Thieves were standing right outside of their entry point before Akira asked if everyone was ready.

"Is everyone ready?" Akira looked at them.

"Yep, lets get this done!" Makoto punched her hand and cracked her knuckles.

"I'm ready when you are!" Morgana poked his head out of Akira's bag.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Futaba smiled and pushed her glasses up.

'It's showtime!" Joker said as they entered the metaverse.

They entered the palace and went straight to the vault where Kaneshiro was, as usual, the fight was much easier as Kaneshiro was never a tough opponent, though they easily dispatched of the bodyguards he hired as they were very vulnerable to sleep. At the end of the fight, Kaneshiro's shadow eventually told them about "The Black Masked Metaverse User"...

"I'll let you in on a little something, there's a criminal using these palaces to do whatever they damn well please, they don't care about consequences anything goes, mental shutdowns, psychotic breakdowns, you name it." Kaneshiro said with a smug grin.

"I know, that person is vital to my plan so unfortunately, I have to leave them be." Joker said.

"Really? You know about them? You'd better keep your mouth shut or he'll come for you." Kaneshiro said smugly.

"I'm not worried, I've been holding back a lot against you so I don't accidentally kill you, trust me they wouldn't stand a chance against me, and I have my friends here with me, without them I wouldn't be as strong as I am now, they would need a lot of help if they wanted to have a chance of winning against us." Joker told him which caused Queen and Oracle to gasp.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you..." Kaneshiro said as he faded into a bright golden-white light.

"Quick Mona transform!" Joker yelled as he began stuffing the gold into the Mona Car with Makoto helping out.

They managed to escape barely and this time no one was injured and the suitcase lay right next to Morgana. They grabbed the suitcase and decided to open it in Akira's room.

"Akira, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." Futaba spoke up.

"Sure, what's up?" Akira took a sip of his water bottle he had.

"What is your plan that you need that other metaverse user for?" Futaba asked.

"I've been meaning to ask as well." Makoto added.

"There's someone who's heart I want to change, however, their palace hasn't formed yet, and that other metaverse user has extremely large connections to the person, if the man loses some of his power, his palace may never form and he will still be corrupt, I can't tell you any names because if something were to happen to me, I'd rather them not come after any of you guys, they would hunt your families down and destroy your life. They have extremely powerful connections, so trying to win in the real world against them is nearly impossible, the only way is through the metaverse, I hope you guys understand, I personally won't tell you guys about them, but should it come up I won't deny it." Akira explained to them.

"That makes enough sense." Makoto said.

"Was it the guy who killed my mom?" Futaba asked with a deadly serious look in her eyes. After a moment Akira finally answered.

"Yes, this man is the reason your mother died, and he also had a large part to play in the death of your father Makoto." Akira said sorrily.

"Seriously?!?!" They said in unison.

"Yes, this man also destroyed my life as well, I won't ever stop being a phantom thief until his heart has been changed." Akira clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

"I'll help in any way I can." Makoto said as she stared at him with a burning passion in her eyes.

"Me too, I'll take this guy down for my mom!" Futaba also agreed.

"Glad to hear it, we'll work as a team, I won't be able to do everything on my own so I'll be counting on you 3." Akira said as he pointed to the sleeping Morgana on his bed. 

They nodded before Makoto checked the time.

"Oh my it's getting late, I should probably get going before the trains close!" Makoto exclaimed before bowing and making her way to the exit.

"Sojiro's prolly gettin' worried so I'm gonna head home too." Futaba said.

"Stay safe." Akira said.

"You too." Futaba said before leaving.

A few hours earlier...

"So Akira Kurusu is the leader of the phantom thieves, and he's using the metaverse to steal hearts, this will be interesting, I'll call Shido later and let him know about the little rat known as Shinichi Yoshizawa who overheard our conversation the other day." Said a very maniac looking Goro Akechi standing in an alleyway near where the thieves entered Kaneshiro's palace.

Chapter 7 Gluttony Part II 

-End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took longer than it should've but I've been consumed in Royal this past week so I've finally managed to grasp and understand the events that take place in Royal.
> 
> I would like to mention that the next few chapters will be a combination of ShuSumi fluff and Akechi's plan, so I hope you enjoy that! :)
> 
> Seriously, I've been craving writing my fluff ideas as I have so many ideas that I haven't read before, prepare yourself for it...

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed, ill try to consistently post new chapter throughout each week, no guarantees on a consistent schedule.


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